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PROPERTY OP 





Umsi 

mklntjm 

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181? 



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A R T F 



■■(!-■- 



•. HRl TAS I 



The History of Old Cumnock 




THE 



History of Old Cumnock 



By the 
Rev. JOHN WARRICK, M.A. 

Frm Church, Old Cumnock 



With a Map and Sixteen Illustrations 



ALEXANDER GARDNER 

Pnbllshep to Her Hiijestj the Queen 

PAISLEY} aad PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON 

1899 



3A 



TO 

Jaaves /a. /Aackinlay, Esq.. 

/\.A., P.5.A. (LoND. AND Scot.). 



PREFACE. 



An attempt is made in the following pages to set down in order 
a number of facts, ancient and modem, regarding the Parish of 
Old Cumnock. The story has many sides, and the material to 
illustrate it is abundant. At every point it is full of interest. 

Many books have been searched for information. My obliga- 
tion to them is duly acknowledged in the text. I likewise 
express my indebtedness to all who have allowed me to examine 
records in their possession. Valuable help has also been given 
to me by several of my fellow-townsmen. 

It is hoped that this account of the doings and experiences 
of the Parish will appeal to many connected with it by birth or 
residence. At the same time, it may not prove unattractive to 
others beyond the limits of the locality, who delight in historic 
and antiquarian lore. 

JOHN WARRICK. 

CuMKOOX, Aprils 1899. 



CONTENTS. 



PAOB 

Chapter I. — Old Cumnock — Its Featubes and Antiquities, 1 

II. — ^The Barons of Cubcnock, - - - 26 

III. — Cumnock and the Struggle for Freedom 

IN Scotland, 66 

IV. — ^Before the Reformation, - - - 68 

V. — St. Convall, Our Patron Saint, - - 71 

VI. — ^The Ministers of Cumnock from 1660, 81 

Vn. — ^The United Presbyterian and other 

Churches, 186 

VIII. — Cumnock and the Covenant, - - 160 

IX. — ^The Story of the Kirk-Session, - - 198 

X. — The Heritors^ Minute Book, - - 221 

XL — Robert Burns and Cumnock, - - 281 

Xn. — ^Past Industries, ----- 240 

XIII. — Education in Olden Time, - - - 268 

XIV. — NoTABi^ Men, 274 

XV.— Parish Chips, 801 

XVI.— Cumnock of To-Day, - - - - 848 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Map of the Parish, Frontispiece. 

View of Cumkock, Page 8 

Bank Viaduct, 9 

Cubs* Glen, 18 

Dumfries House, 91 

Glaisnock House, 70 

Old Established Church, Ill 

Old Free Church, 18S 

Design of New Free Church, 184 

United Presbyterian Church, 189 

Peden^s Monument and Thorn Trees, ... ns 

Covenanting Flag and Other Reucs, ... igg 

Established Church, 228 

The Cross, 808 

The Bell Tree, 846 

Glaisnock Street Fmr Years Ago, - - - - 848 

Glaisnock Street, 849 



A LIST OF SOME OF THE AUTHORITIES 

CONSULTED. 



Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of' Scotland. 

Acts of Parliament (Scots), 

Aiton^s Agriculture in Ayrshire, 

Ayr and Wigton Archceological Publications. 

Baillie's Letters and Journals. 

Barbour^s Bruce. 

Blaeu^s Le Grand Atlas, 

Blind Harry^s Wallace, 

Bremner^s Industries of Scotland, 

Brown^s History of Sanquhar. 

Brown'^s (P. H.) Early Travellers in Scotland. 

Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland. 

Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers. 

CampbelPs Tour in Ayrshire. 

Chalmers' Caledonia. 

Chambers^ Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. 

Chambers^ Domestic Annals, 

Chambers^ Picture of Scotland, 

Cloud of Witnesses. 

Cochran-Patrick^s Records of Mining in Scotland. 

Collection of Ancient Scottish Prophecies (Bannatyne Club). 

Diocesan Registers ofGUisgow (Bain & Rogers). 

Douglas^ Baronage of Scotland. 

Douglas^ Peerage of Scotland. 

Edgar^s Old Church Life in Scotland, 



xiv. Authorities Consulted. 

Erskine^s Instiiutes. 

Eoccheqver Rolls of Scotland. 

Forbes' KaJendars of Scottish Saints, 

Forsyth's Beauties of Scotland, 

Fountainhairs Historical Notices. 

Fraser's Book of Douglas, 

Grant's Story of the University of Edinburgh. 

Hewat's Little Scottish World. 

Hogg's Works. 

Howie's Scots Worthies. 

Hunter's (Kelso) Retrospect of an Artisfs Life. 

Hutchison's Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

Irving's (David) Lives of Scottish Writers. 

Irving's (Joseph) Book of Eminent Scotsmen. 

Johnston's (J. B.) Place Names of Scotland. 

Johnston's (J. C.) Treasury of the Scottish Covenant. 

Keith's Scottish Bishops. 

Ker of Kersland's Memoirs. 

Leslie's History of Scotland. 

Mackelvie's Annals and Statistics of the U.P. Church. 

Maxwell's (Sir Herbei-t) Scottish Land-Names. 

Moll's Maps of Scotland. 

Monipennie's Brief e Description of Scotland. 

Napier's Fdk Lore. 

Ordnance Gazetecr of Scotland. 

Paterson's Contemporaries of Burns. 

Paterson's History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigion. 

Paterson's Life of Wallace. 

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 

Regality Club (Glasgoto) Papers. 

Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. 

Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis. 

Registrum Magm SigUli Regurn Scotorum. 



h 



AuTiiOBmEs Consulted. xv. 

Robertson^s Account of the Principal Families in Ayrshire, 

Rogers^ Book of Wallace. 

Rowan^s Memorials of Ochiltree. 

Scott's (Hew) Fasti Ecclesice Scoticance. 

Scotfs (Sir Walter) Tales of a Grandfather, 

Simpson's Gleanings among the Mountains. 

Statistical Account of Scotlandy Vol. VI. 

„ (New),yo\.\. 
Stubbs and Hadden's Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents. 
Swift's Memoirs of Captain John Creichton. 
Taylor's Pictorial Scotland. 
Thomson's History of the Scottish People. 
Todd's HomeSi Haunts^ and Battlefields of the Covenanters. 
Turner's (Sir James) Memoirs, 

V^allace's (CoL) Narrative of the Rising ai Pentland. 
Wodrow's Analecta. 

Wodrow's History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland. 
Wyntoun's ChronykU of Scotland. 

The following MS. books have also been carefully examined: — 

** The Records of the Presbytery of Ayr." 

« The Kirk-Session Recoi-ds of Old Cumnock." 

** The Heritors' Minute Book." 

^^ The Records of the Burgh of Cumnock and Holmhead." 



CORRIGENDA. 



Page 7I9 line 5, fur fFish- read Wishing, 
Page 74, laat line, tor f cut read feast. 



I 



History of Old Cumnock. 



CHAPTER I. 

Old Cumnock — Its Features and Antiquities, 

'* Relate what Latium was, 
Declare the past and present state of things." 

— DrydeiCa Virgil. 

The parish of Old Cumnock in the uplands of Ayrshire lies in 
the middle division 6f the county known by the familiar name of 
Kyle. Up to the year 1650, it was of much greater extent than 
it is at present. At that date, the larger portion of the parish 
lying toward the south was disjoined from it, and erected by the 
Commissioners for the plantation of kirks into the separate 
parish of New Cumnock. The wisdom of this procedure seems 
to have been called in question very soon, for in 1667 New 
Cumnock was deprived of its separate parochial existence and re- 
united to Old Cumnock. 

This step, which involved the closing of the church at New 
Cumnock, was taken at the instance of the patron, the Earl of 

A 



History of Old Cumnoc:k. 



Dumfries, who desired only to have one minister and one church 
in the district. Evidently the reason was a pecuniaiy one. The 
Earl gained his point before the ecclesiastical authorities, there- 
by securing the reduction of the New Cumnock Church, in 
which all religious sen'ices were given up. It was not, however, 
till 1681 that Parliament formally ratified the deed. The Act 
of that year dealing with the matter contains a clause which 
shows how the people of the new pai-ish were affected by the 
change. Orders came to " the inhabitants of the said lands, to 
resort and repair to the old kirk of Cumnock for hearing of the 
word, receiving of the sacraments, and uther publict acts of 
divine worship, as formerly.*" This new union lasted only for 
twenty-four years. In 1691, immediately after the Revolution, 
New Cumnock regained its parochial status, and has maintained 
it ever since. 

'^The reason of the division of the parish is easily understood. 
It was extremely large, covering 62,567 acres. Many parts of 
it were more than ten miles from the town of Cumnock, which 
was the chief centre of population, and the seat of the church. 
But it is not so easy to discover the principle on which the 
division was made. For in the division, 48,357J acres, or more 
than three-fourths of the whole parish, fell to New Cumnock, 
while only 14,209^ acres, or less than one-fourth, remained in 
the possession of Cumnock. Doubtlass the dwellers in the old 
parish consoled themselves with the fact that, though they had 
lost (quantity, they had kept quality ; for a very large portion of 
New Cumnock then, as now, was moss and hill, while only a small 
part of the land resei-ved for Cumnock was unfit for cultivation. 



: 1 
■I 



Its Features and Antiquities. 8 

Very likelj the necessity of providing a suitable stipend for 
the minister of the disjoined district gives us the true reason 
which led to the unequal division of the parish. Ministerial 
stipends formed a burden upon land. If the value of the land 
was small, the burden required to be spread over a correspond- 
ingly big area. Hence the acreage of New Cumnock, being of 
less agricultural value than that of our portion of the parish, 
required to be more extensive, in order to furnish a stipend 
sufficient to maintain a separate ministry. 

In consequence of the erection of New Cumnock into a dis- 
tinct parish, our district came to be known as Old Cumnock. 
Up to that time the name of the undivided parish was Cumnock. 
As some confusion sometimes occurs now in the use of the two 
names, it is well to bear in mind that Old Cumnock is the name 
of our parish, while Cumnock is the proper designation of our 
town. 

The extent of the parish remained unaltered from 1691 till 
1895, when a small section of the parish of Auchinleck, lying 
across the Lugar, was added to it This part of Auchinleck, 
extending to 22^ acres, had been built upon by the people of 
Cumnock, and, under the name of Holmhead, already formed 
part of the burgh of Cumnock and Holmhead. Its union with 
our parish, though objected to by the people of Auchinleck, was 
perfectly natural in the circumstances. It was too near the 
town, and its interests were too similar to those of Cumnock, to 
remain with advantage under separate parochial control. 

The boundaries of Cumnock are easily defined. On the west 
it is bounded by Ochiltree, on the north and north-east by the 



HisToiiY OF Old Cumnock. 



long parish of Auchinleck, and on the south and south-east 
by New Cumnock. In length it is nine and a quarter miles, 
from the farm of Bowton on the borders of Ochiltree on the 
west, to the farm of Guelt on the east Its breadth from north 
to south vai*ies from nine furlongs to four and a quarter miles. 
The parish is broadest at its western extremity, and gradually 
becomes narrower as it stretches eastward, tapering into a thin 
finger of land four miles long, and little more than one mile 
broad. 

The town of Cumnock, which is situated at the confluence of 
the Lugar and the Glaisnock, is 362 feet above the level of the 
sea. The surface of the parish is lowest on the north side, dose 
to the banks of the Lugar. It rises steadily toward the south. 
At Pennyfadzeoch, where the Lugar quits the parish, the land is 
300 feet above the level of the sea ; at Skares it is 698 ; at 
Changue, 537 ; at Over Glaisnock, 700 ; at High Mount, on the 
south- western boundary, 1198; at Longmore, 576; at Dar- 
malloch, 705 ; at Aird's Hill, 1034 ; and at CraigdoUyeart, in 
the extreme south-east, the highest point in the parish is 
reached, 1352 feet. At its western limit the pcuish is twelve 
miles from the sea. ITie town of Cumnock is sixteen miles 
from the sea, and is distant one mile from the village of Auchin- 
leck, four and a half miles from the village of Ochiltree, and 
five and a half miles from the village of New Cumnock. By 
road it is sixteen miles from Kilmarnock, thirty-seven frt>m 
Glasgow, sixty from Edinburgh, and forty-three from Dumfries. 

Sixty -nine and a half acres in the parish are covered by run- 
ning water. There are no lochs. A small one used to exist on 




Its Features and Antiquities. 



Avisyard hill, but it was drained more than fifty years ago. It 
was named Caimscadden, and was a favourite resort of curlers. 

The name Cumnock has received three different interpreta- 
tions — 

(1) The oldest and most familiar interpretation traces the name 
to the Cymric com^ a bosom or a hollow, and the Graelic cnocy a 
hill. This interpretation suits the locality in the neighbourhood 
of the town extremely well ; for Cumnock nestles in the bosom 
of the surrounding hills. All the roads leading out of the town 
ascend, with the exception of the Ayr Road, which follows the 
course of the Lugar. Two objections, however, militate against 
the acceptance of this etymology. In the first place, it makes 
the name a compound of Cymric and Gaelic, which is far from 
usual ; and, in the second place, it breaks the rule, which is now 
regarded as cardinal in the interpretation of place names, that 
** in compound names, the stress always falls on the qualitative 
syllable ^ (Maxwell, Scottish Land Names ^ p. 10). In this case 
the qualitative syllable, according to the etymology suggested, is 
the second. The accent, therefore, would require to rest there, 
and the name be pronounced Cumndck. At no time do we find 
this pronunciation in use. 

(2) The second suggested derivation sets aside all reference to 
the situation of the town in relation to the surrounding hills, 
and connects it with the streams that flow so closely to it. Thus, 
The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland^ edited by F. H. Groome, 
traces it to the Graelic cumar^ meeting, and oichy water, making 
it mean " The meeting of the waters.'*' Of course we cannot tell 
whether the name Cumnock was given first to the town or to the 




G HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

parish. But if the name belonged fii*st to the town, this inter- 
pretation accurately describes its situation. For it lies at the 
meeting place of the Lugar and Glaisnock. According to this 
etymology, Cunmock has exactly the same signification as the 
town of Coblcntz in Germany, which gained its name (Lat., 
Con/fuenfcs) from its situation at the junction of the Rhine and 
the Moselle. 

This interpretation, however, like the other, contravenes the 
rule regarding the ([ualitative syllable. Besides, the component 
[)aris, cumar and oich^ require a good deal of fitting together 
before the name of our town, as we know it, is obtained, while 
the presence of the letter n in the middle can hardly be ex- 
plained on the ground of euphony. 

(3) The name has been derived from the Gaelic canty bent, and 
cnocy a hill. It would therefore mean the bent hill, as Sir 
Herbert Maxwell suggests {at supray p. 140), or the crooked or 
sloping hill, as Johnston indicates in his Place Names of Scat- 
land (p. 81). This interpretation has the advantage of being 
thoroughly scientific. It suits admirably, too, the general ap- 
pearance of the parish. One has only to take his stand on the 
higher ground outside the town, for instance near Clocklownie, 
in order to be convinced of this. Tlie land slopes downward 
with more or less steadiness towards the level of the Lugar. 
Behind it stretches upwards towards New Cumnock, but in front 
it grows more and more depressed. Tlic contour of the parish 
is unmistakably like an inclined phuie, whose downward trend is 
from south to north. 

It is not possible to do otherwise than to give the preference 



Its Features and ANnaurriEs. 



to this etymology. It wins our favour by its adherence to the 
rules of interpretation, and it describes correctly the leading 
physical feature of the parish. It may be regarded, therefore, 
as certain that Cumnock means the bent or sloping hill. Tha 
angle of inclination varies. Some idea of the gradient may be 
gained from the following measurements. In each case, the 
place mentioned second lies almost due north of that with which 
it is coupled. Lines joining them would be parallel. 

In the extreme west of the parish, between the farm of Muir 
and Pennyfadzeoch, a distance of two miles, the ground descends 
400 feet. In the centre of the parish, between Over Glaisnock 
and the town, a distance of two miles, there is a fall of 338 feet ; 
while at the eastern boundary, between High GarlefFan and the 
Glenmuir water, a distance of only one mile, the drop is 300 
feet The inclination, accordingly, is a little more in the west 
than in the middle portion of the parish. It is greatest in the 
eastern section. The figures work out approximately in this 
way. In the west there is a gradient of 1 in 26, in the middle of 
1 in 30, and in the east of 1 in 18. Clearly Old Cumnock has 
truth stamped on its face when it calls itself the sloping hill. 

The name of our parish appears elsewhere in Scotland. In 
Carsphaim there are the Cumnock Knowes. In MinnigafF, the 
order of the syllables is reversed in the name Knockcom (Max- 
well's Galloway Topography^ pp. 147 and 220). Uvyrcumnok, 
near Inverkip, is mentioned by Wyntoun in his Chratiykil of 
Scotland (Bk. viii., cap. 28). 

Many variations in the spelling of the name are to be met 
with. The following appear in documents of diflTerent dates — 



8 History of Old Cumnock. 

Cumnok, Comcnocke, Comnocke, Cankiiok, Cumnoke, Cumock, 
Cumok, Cumnoc, Cumno, Coinenogh, Comenok, Cunnok, Cum- 
noch. In books, like the Cloud of Witnesses^ it takes the form 
of Cumluck or Cunilock, which is still used by old people. Cum- 
loik is the way in which Patrick Dunbar spells it, in a letter 
from the prison of Blackness to Sir Patrick Waus of Bambarroch, 
in 1585. Sometimes it is spelleil with a K — Kumnok. In the 
(koffraphna Scoticv of 1749, it appears as Cumnack. 

Ilie mention of our parish in the Gcographica Scotice^ which 
dates from the middle of the eighteenth century, is not the 
earliest notice of Cunmock to be found in maps. In the Bodleian 
library at Oxford there is a map, the author of which is un- 
known, but whose date is probably the thirteenth century. In 
it the draughtsman has carcfully inserted Cumok, attaching to it 
the usual sign to indicate a castle. In another map of 1595, 
taken from Merca tor's AtlaSy there is marked not only Connok 
ca(stle), but also Cunnok kirk. As the distance between the 
two places corresponds to the distance between Cumnock and 
New Cumnock, the castle referred to can only be the fortress 
of the Dunbars, which figuixjs so frc(]uently in the course of 
this history. Blaeu's map of Kyle, in his Atlas Majors pub- 
lished in 1652, is interesting for the information it gives. 
Its inscription is noteworthy. It is detlicated ^nobilissimo 
et omatissimo juveni Jacobo, Frendcretti vicecomiti, Crich- 
tonii Domino.'^ It makes no mention of Cumnock town 
nor of Teningzcan Castle. But in addition to Kumnock 
Castle, it mentions Boirland Castle, and the Castle of Lefno 
(I^fnoreis). Outside our parish it takes note of Uchiltree 



s 



Its Features akd Antiquities. 



Castle, and Castel Keyil (Kyle). While no castle is marked at 
Auchinleck, there appears the name of Keithstoun, which is 
said to have been the name in former times of a portion of the 
village of Auchinleck. Monipennie, in his Brief e Description of 
Scotland^ m 1597, speaks of " the towne and castle of Cumnok,^ 
and also of the ** castles of Lochnoreis and Terringean.'*' 

Besides numerous bums everywhere to be met with, there are 
two streams of larger size, which flow partly through the parish 
and drain it. These are the Lugar and the Glaisnock. 

The Lugar is formed by the junction of the Glenmuir and the 
Bello waters, two miles to the east of the town, and close to the 
busy mining village of Lugar. It is the boundary of the parish 
on the north, dividing it from Auchinleck, except at the point 
where Holmhead forms part of Cumnock. After running 
through the policies of the Marquis of Bute to Ochiltree, it 
flows into the water of Ayr at Barskimming, ten miles from the 
junction of the Glenmuir and the Bello. The Lugar is not a 
large river, but the scenery at different points of its winding 
course is full of beauty. 

Everyone in the neighbourhood knows the picturesqueness of 
the perpendicular crags rising more than two hundred feet in 
height at the Bank, clad in summer with the tender green of the 
graceful birch, the waving poplar, and the sweet scented lime, 
side by side with the darker hues of the pine, the beech, and the 
oak. Few scenes are so full of quiet loveliness. At the same 
point, just a little below the stately railway viaduct, the Lugar 
takes one of its great bends, and forms almost a circle by flowing 
round the Mote Hill. From the wooded top of this knoll, as 



10 HisTOEY OF Old Cumkock. 

well as from the winding path at its base, some of the finest 
views are to be obtained of the grandeur and beauty of the 
banks and braes of bonnic Lugar water. 

The Glaisnock is much smaller than the Lugar. Rising in 
the Black Loch, within the borders of New Cumnock, it follows 
a tortuous course, growing in size as it flows, until it merges its 
waters in the Lugar at the lower end of the town, which it 
divides into two almost equal portions. 

The lake in which the Glaisnock takes its rise has a striking 
peculiarity. It flows out at both ends. At its southern extre- 
mity it sends its waters, through two other small lakes in New 
Cumnock parish, into the channel of the Nith, and thence into 
the Solway Firth. At its north end the Glaisnock issues, and 
flowing first into the Lugar, by and by joins the water of Ayr, 
and so finds its way to the Firth of Clyde. This feature of the 
Black Loch indicates its position on the watershed of that part 
of Scotland covered by the counties of Ayr and Dumfries. The 
Rev. Ninian Bannatyne, who wrote, in 1837, the brief story of 
our parish for the New Statistical Account^ facetiously refers to 
the connection thus existing between the Solway and the Firth 
of Clyde. He pictures a trout possessed with a desire to travel 
entering the water of Ayr at the county town, passing into the 
Lugar at Barskimming, and making its way up the stream to 
Cumnock, where it strikes into the Glaisnock, with whose help it 
speedily reaches the Black Loch. Having enjoyed its roomy 
quarters there for a little, it continues its way down the Nith 
and finally passing Dumfries, arrives at the Solway Firth, and so 
brings to an end its adventurous voyage of nearly seventy miles. 



k 



Its Features and Antiquities. 11 

Mr. Bannatjme adds the following interesting fact. ^^The 
late £arl of Dumfries (the grandfather of the present Marquis of 
Bute), at one time proposed making a cut from the river Nith 
in New Cumnock to the lake above mentioned, in order to have 
a large supply of water for a factory that he intended to erect 
on the Glaisnock water, and thus to make the Nith send part of 
its waters into the Clyde instead of the Solway ; but it was never 
attempted to be executed. The cuts, however . . . could 
easily be made^ and at very little expense ; but how the people of 
Dumfriesshire would relish this new order of things with regard 
to their majestic river, I cannot say — I am afraid they would 
forbid the bans between the Nith and the Clyde.'' Very likely 
they would, but all Cumnock would agree in thinking that an 
unspeakable advantage would follow^ especially in the dry days 
of July and August, if an increased volume of water rolled 
through the town in the channel of the Glaisnock. 

There €U« two other physical features of the parish which may 
be noticed at present. 

The one is its well-wooded character. This is everywhere 
apparent. In the policies of the Marquis of Bute large planta- 
tions of trees form a conspicuous ornament, lending beauty to the 
landscape. The same may be said of the smaller grounds of 
Glaisnock and Garrallan, Logan and Skerrington, while scattered 
through the parish are to be seen belts of pine, spruce, and 
beech, which make a pleasing background to the green fields in 
summer and the golden com in autumn. 

A circular plantation of beech trees on a knoll, about three- 
quarters of a mile on the west of the town, just in the angle 



12 History of Old Cumxock. 

formed by the junction of the Garrallan road with the Ayr road, 
has an interesting historical association. It goes by the name of 
the Dettingen wood, and was planted in memory of the part 
taken by William, the fourth Earl of Dumfries, at the battle of 
Dettingen in Bavaria, in 1743, when George II. accompanied the 
allied troops. This battle, thus commemorated in our neigh- 
bou'.hood, is remarkable for being the last occasion on which a 
king of Britain appeared in person on the field. It is likewise 
stated that this clump of trees, along with the smaller plantation 
on Stair Hill, on the higher ground near Garrallan, indicates the 
position of the British troops before the battle commenced. A 
similar reminiscence of the engagement existed for nearly a cen- 
tury in the grounds of Stair House. Doubtless our Earl copied 
the example of his uncle, the Earl of Stair, who led the British 
army until the king nominally assumed command. Stair Hill 
takes its name in all probability from this Earl, who, besides 
being a skilful general, had a great reputation as an agricultural 
reformer. He was " the first Scotsman to plant turnips and 
cabbages in fields upon a large scale *" (Thomson's History, III., 
p. 410). 

Of individual trees of large growth in the parish, there are a 
good many. Mention must be first made of the magnificent 
specimen of the maple or sycamore in the gai'den of the Marquis 
of Bute. It is said to be at least 300 years old ; and certainly 
its widespreading umbrageous head, and its thick stem, which 
measures 14 feet 10 inches in circumference three feet above the 
ground, make it easy to believe that it has stood the blasts of 
even three centuries, and is by far the oldest li\'ing thing in the 



k 



Its Features and Axtiqlities. 13 



parish of Old Cumnock. Not far from Dumfries House, also, 
there is, close to the bank of the Lugar, a very fine specimen of 
the silver fir, measuring 14 feet 9 inches three feet above the 
ground Then, everyone is acquainted with the majestic propor- 
tions of the larch, not far beyond the nearest gate-house, which 
has gained for itself the name of The Fair Maid of Cumnock, 
And, not to speak of others, on the Ayr Road are to be seen some 
remarkably good beech trees, calculated to be more than SOO 
years old. 

On the whole, it may veiy safely be said that few parishes are 
so richly wooded as our own. 

The other feature which may be mentioned now, as contribut- 
ing to the beauty of Old Cumnock, is its glens. These are not 
numerous, but in addition to the Lugar glen at the Bank, there 
are two others worthy of notice. They are the Glaisnock glen 
and the Cubs^ gl^n* No more charming walk can be taken than 
up Glaisnock glen, when the water dashes playfully down the 
rocks and sparkles in the sunlight, amid a luxuriance of ferns and 
wild flowers, while tall trees spread their network of green over- 
head, and the air is merry with the song of the lark and the 
blackbird. Cubs' glen is more difficult of access. It lies in the 
eastern portion of the parish, on the farm of Knocknaib. The 
water that runs through it is the Glenmuir. The grandeur of 
this glen, when traversed in the brilliant sunshine of a peaceful 
summer day, imprints on the memory a picture of exceeding 
beauty never to be forgotten. 

The antiquity of our parish is undoubted. Its name is a 
guarantee of that ; yet little remains to connect it with the far 



14 History of Old Cumnock. 



distfiuit past. Some memorials, however, exist which throw at 
least a dim light on Cumnock in the eariiest period of Scottish 
history. 

A few relics of the Stone Age have been turned up by the 
plough, some of which are in the Grierson Museum at ThomhiU. 
One is a small, light-coloured axe-head, about 5 inches long, with 
an oblique cutting edge. In the same museum there are also two 
fine ornamented claystone whorls, as well as some urn fragments. 
These were found on Boreland Smithy, or the immediate neigh- 
bourhood, and presented to the museum by the late Mr. Hugh 
Arthur. Other implements of a similar kind are sure to be lying 
buried in oui* fields, or may, when exposed, be thoughtlessly 
thrown aside, in ignorance of the fact that our ancestors, 2000 
years ago, fashioned them as instruments of war or as articles for 
domestic use. Quite recently, in the spring of 1898, two sepul- 
chral urns were found in a sandhill close to Boreland MilL The 
larger of the two was, unfortunately, broken before it was 
observed. The smaller, which is almost entire, is of yellow clay, 
and stands about five inches high. Both have been turned on 
the wheel, and are rudely ornamented. They were half-filled 
with calcined bones. In all probability a careftil examination of 
the sandhill would reveal other relics of the same character. The 
urns are in the possession of Lord Bute. Pieces of charred wood 
were found beside them. 

The most interesting memorial, however, of pre-historic times 
in our district is very different in appearance and meaning from 
those just mentioned. It is not indeed within the limits of Old 
Cumnock, but just outside in the parish of Auchinleck. Still, 



bt FExrms mS2 



ai ID tfaoae old dm pnafc hoBaaaaa msc udebi 
of tlic cortoBs of tlic peoQHC beoore 







A g ii»p» of ftciabfr obconec f-gox "ae pocaxi: 
of tvo tiock ^K3KZi ftoBB Saor ise: i;^. i 

•• • T T * * •-^ " " - ^ -p 

lo^ldi, 5 feet S iacfaa a hwt. ui S &s s braisa. T^ 



it 
Afaaot 1807, bovcnr. tae buaee w ^3R ^Xta S 
of Jmkimltrt^ "Hmt Buij rs •seaoeaer -^ rack «i» iix» 



Airs*.^*U<» 



for on tlie vert sde of :se -rcirgiT jjfan I3ier» » & ussxi-smoi] 
group of lus^ rtooow kx s nirwnrr, iaii SKisscrsir f^joi zw-Tt 'Jm 
three feet stmzc^ The VKxaauat of :zj» ynfir-crrig ic nr^'juest 
gDudmg the «poee hffi^ tine gf~ar» l fci*3 i iz> -die !Tanr:ijiaai "Stt:: 
it if a phcse of ^p^ri^I Im tae Aaga gt: 'Sf ia.':^r:3iJ3taft n s ^ 



Mwnriifrd with the I>mrSs isgi ir«t j»Lai rcfio. m t^3ic<?!s 'yf 
fetfaen ID the di^ of Dr^daML Wew-R 



16 History of Old Cumnock. 



the Druid priests moved about our hills and valleys, clothed in 
white robes, and regarded with reverent awe by the people over 
whom they held sway. With interest we listened to the story of 
the cutting of the mistletoe from the oak branch with the golden 
knife, and, with deeper feeling still, to the story of the darker 
doings of the Druids as they presented to their deities the sacri- 
fice of human life. Imagination was allowed to exercise itself 
most j6*eely on such a theme, and practically to run wild. 
Caesar's account of Druid worship in Gaul was transferred to 
Scotland, and deemed a fitting foundation on which to build the 
whole edifice of Druid rites and ceremonies in our northern land. 

Historical research, however, has proved that such a conclusion 
is entirely unwarranted. Druidism was never an organised cult 
in Scotland, and the monstrous system described by Caesar and 
other classical writers never held any place in the life of our 
ancestors. 

Skene, in his Celtic Scotland^ may be taken as an authority on 
this matter. He tells us that in olden time in our country there 
was a class of persons termed Magi and Druadh, but that, 
though the names have some similarity, there was no connection 
at all between the religious beliefs and practices of the Druadh 
and those of the Druids. The Druadh of Scotland, he says, 
fostered a kind of " fetichism, which peopled all the objects of 
nature with malignant beings, to whose agency its phenomena 
were attributed,*' while they themselves were regarded as Ixjing 
in league with those beings, and able, through their aid, " to 
practise a species of magic, which might either be used to benefit 
those who sought their assistance, or to injure those to whom 



Its Features and ANTiaurriEs. 17 

they were opposed." According to this view, therefore, which 
must be accepted as correct, it is a mistake to connect the stone 
monuments of our land with the Druidism of Gaul, and " to 
assume that the stone circles and cromlechs, which are un- 
doubtedly sepulchral monuments, represent temples and altars ^* 
(11. , p. 118). And so it follows that the Wallace town cromlech 
by the banks of the Bello has no association with the Druids. It 
is simply a place of burial, marking the spot where some old 
Caledonian hero was laid to rest, amid the regrets of the people 
whom he ruled, and whom he had often led out to battle. As 
such it is of the greatest interest, and ought to be more widely 
known than it seems to be. The cromlech does not appear ever 
to have been opened. 

While recent investigation has freed our forefathers from the 
imputation of engaging in the revolting practices of Druidism as 
performed in Gaul, it has also helped to throw fresh light on the 
relation of Ayrshire to the Romans, of whose presence in Scot- 
land many traces are to be found. It was long usual for writers 
on the history of the south-west of Scotland, to dwell on the 
Roman occupation of our county. Thus Paterson, in his History 
of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton^ has a section entitled " The 
Roman Period," while Chalmers, in his monumental work, 
Caledonia^ enters with minuteness into this subject, and describes 
in his third volume the so-called Roman road from Ayr to Kirk- 
cudbright. The compilers, too, of the various articles in the 
New Statistical Account bearing upon Ayrshire, frequently allude 
to Roman remains in their' parishes, as for example, baths at 
LGU*gs, armour, swords and lances in the neighbourhood of Ayr, 

B 



18 History of Old Cumnock. 



a camp at Galston, etc., all showing, as Paterson remarks, 
(p. xxviii.), that Ayrshire was fully opened up to the Romans. 

It would not be needful to refer to this question, if it had not 
been alleged that Roman remains were to be found in Old 
Cumnock. But that is just what Paterson maintains ; for on 
page xxvii. of his first volume he says, *^ Another (Roman camp) 
exists not far from Avisyard in New Cumnock.*' He makes a 
mistake to begin with, by placing Avisyard in New Cumnock. It 
is in our parish. 

How this story about a Roman camp on Avisyard arose, it is 
not easy to say. On Coila hill, Avisyard, there used to be a 
mound of stones called Caimscadden, but it is no longer to be 
seen. Half a mile south of it on the moor, there is a mound ftO 
paces in diameter and 6 feet high. It is possible that one or 
other of these mounds was magnified in Paterson's eyes, until it 
became a Roman camp. But there is not the slightest ground 
for such an assumption. The fact is that it is very far from being 
proved that the Romans were ever in Ayrshire at all. A great 
deal has been taken for granted in the matter and accepted with- 
out investigation. Fifty or sixty years ago, every old ixwid that 
was discovered was traced to the Romans, and put down at once 
as their handiwork. The so-called Roman road, leading out of 
Ajrr by Dalmellington southward, has been carefully examined 
and is now regarded by all competent judges as of comparatively 
recent origin. Roman soldiers may have passed through Ayr- 
shire. That is quite probable, but it is certain that they did not 
occupy it as they occupied other parts of o^u: island by means of 
camps and roads. 



Its Features and ANTiaurnEs. 19 

Dr. James Macdonald, formerly rector of Ayr Academy and 
Rhind Lecturer on this subject in 1897, sums up the whole case 
in this way : — " We have no reason for believing that Ayrshire 
was ever occupied by the Romans. It is even doubtful if they 
entered it at all. That Roman armies or Roman traders passed 
from Galloway to the Ayrshire coast, or even that Ayr existed 
as a town in Roman times, axe both mere assumptions.*** (Pro- 
ceedinga of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland^ 1893'4y p. 423). 
To that deliberate finding, arrived at by one so conversant with 
the subject as Dr. Macdonald, no exception can be taken. It 
must simply be received as the only verdict possible on the case. 
It may be that some of our ancestors in the parish saw the 
Roman eagles, and even fought against Agricola and Severus in 
defence of their native land ; but Avisyard has no title to regard 
itself as the site of a Roman camp, and Cumnock may take pride 
in the fact that it was never conquered by the mistress of the 
world. 

In more recent days three castles stood within the limits of the 
parish. 

The chief of these was I^fnoreis, situated close to the Lugar 
about 100 yards to the west of Dumfries House. In old charters 
it is spoken of as the Ward or Tower of Lefnoreis. No part of 
it now remains above ground. In 1897, Lord Bute made ex- 
tensive excavations on the site, and exposed a portion of the old 
walls as well as some capital causeway work made of water worn 
stones. The ruins indicate a fortress of considerable sti*ength. 
Its early ownei-s, and in all probability its builders, were the 
Craufurds, who appear to have been a bi'anch of the Loudoun 



iO History of Old Cumnock. 

family. Their name occurs frequently in the RegMter of the 
Privy Council. The first notice we have of them is in 1440. 

A considerable part of the neighbouring land was in their 
possession. Besides Lefno^eis, they held property in Ochiltree 
and Dalmellington. In the beginning of the seventeenth century 
their estates began to be broken up, after which their name 
gradually disappeared from the district. The whole of their 
property in the parish eventually passed into the hands of the 
Earls of Dumfries, whose arrival in Cumnock was practically 
simultaneous with the departure of the Craufiirds. Though the 
popular spelling of the name of the castle is Lochnorris, it is well 
to note that in the old documents it usually appears as Lefnoreis. 
Sometimes it is Leifnoreis. 

The following incident, taken from the Privy Council Register 
of 1578, gives us a glimpse of the occupants of the old keep. A 
famous border robber, named James Elliot, had been committed 
to the custody of George Craufurd of Lefnoreis, who, however, 
allowed him to escape and pass home ; " quhairthrow the 
Bordouraris and trew subjectis of this realme ar sensyne greitlie 
trublit and inquietit."" Accordingly, Craufurd was ordered to 
appear before the Privy Council, to show cause why he should 
not pay a penalty of <£*2000 for permitting Elliot to escape. On y 

his failing to appear, the Treasurer was empowered to uplift the 
penalty, as an " exemplis of utheris." 

The Craufurds took part too in the public affairs of the 
country. In 1560, George Craufurd of Lefnoreis was in Parlia- 
ment. He sat again in 1572. In 1589, William Craufurd was 
made a Commissioner for carrying out the law, by which all 



Its Features and Antiquities. 81 

Jesuits were to leave the country in a month. Still later, in 
1609. just when the influence of the family was passing away, 
George Craufurd, the heir apparent of Lefnoreis, was committed 
to Blackness Castle, for bearing arms and resetting fugitives. In 
his History of the R^ormationy Knox gives us a good account of 
the attitude towards Protestantism of George Craufurd in 154«4| 
and contrasts him with his successor. His words are : — " Mr. 
Greorge Wishart pi*eached in Ajnr till the Bishop of Glasgow, 
Dunbar, came with his gatherings to the town of Air, to make 
resistance to the said Mr. George, and did first take the church ; 
the Earl of Glencaim being thereof advertised, repaired with his 
friends to the town, and so did diverse gentlemen (amongst whom 
was the laird of Lefnoreise, a man far different from him that 
now liveth in the year of our Lord 1566, in manners and re- 
ligion)." Doubtless Knox spoke from personal knowledge. 

When the old castle became a ruin we cannot tell. It is 
hardly probable that it remained in habitable condition till the 
building of Dumfries House about the year 1767. Its disappear- 
ance broke a great link with the past history of Cumnock. 

A mile nearer the town on a knoll covered with hawthorn 
trees, which look down upon the Lugar, stand the hoary remains 
of Terringzean Castle. The name appears in various forms. 
Trarizeane, Trarinyean, Terrinzeane, Terringane, Trarynyane, 
Terrynyene and Torrinzean, all occur. An earlier name which it 
bore, Craufurdstone or Craufuixlstoun, suggests that this fortress, 
as well as Lefnoreis, belonged to a portion of the Loudon family. 
An old document, of date 1647, speaks of '* Craufuirdstone, alias 
Terringzeane " (Paterson, II., p. S58). 



22 History of Old Cumnock. 

A concise history of the fortress is given in the Statistical 
Account, " The castle of Terrinzean,"* it says, '* was probably 
the mansion which belonged to the barony of Terrinzean, which 
successively passed from a branch of the Craufurds to the Boyds. 
Upon their forfeiture it fell to the crown, who having successively 
made gi'ants of it to different proprietors, it came at last into the 
family of Loudon, from whom it was purchased by the Earl of 
Dumfries, whose property it now is. From this barony the 
Countess of Loudon is Baroness Terrinzean.'" 

Old records amplify this statement. In the Accounts of the 
Lord High Treasurer of Scotland^ we read that on the 26th 
April, 1467, a charter was granted to Thomas Boyd, Earl of 
Arran, and Mary his wife, sister of the King, of the lands of 
Trarinyean. Arran, however, was deprived of them when he lost 
the favour of the King. They came at length into the possession 
of the Craufurds of Lefnoreis, who in 1563 resigned *'the lordship 
of Terrynyene to Matthew Campbell of Lowdoun, Knycht ^ {Reg. 
Privy Council), Four years earlier, this Campbell, who calls 
himself " of Teringean,^ signed the Protestant bond of union. 

Tradition has no tale to tell of this venerable ruin. Lord 
Bute unearthed the foundation some years ago, but no discovery 
was made. A portion of it seems to be of older date than the 
rest. A reference in the Exchequer Rolls to its farm lands, 
though it makes no mention of the castle, connects it with our 
early national history. It is stated that in 1438 a sum of i?14 
Scots was payable by the "farm lands of Trarynyane in the 
barony of Cumnok.*" This tax was to help to furnish the means 
of supporting the royal household. 



Its Features and ANnaumEs. 28 

The other castle in the parish was Borelandi nearly two miles 
south of Cumnock. No trace of it is to be seen, but the site it 
occupied is well known. Occasionally the plough strikes the 
foundation, a few inches below the surface of the ground. Part 
of the moat, which surrounded it, and which could be easily 
filled by the bum flowing close by, is quite visible. It lay on 
slightly elevated ground between Boreland Smithy and Boreland 
Mill. 

The lands of Boreland formed originally a separate estate, and 
about the year 1400 came into the possession of a branch of the 
Hamilton family. Afterwards they passed by marriage to the 
Montgomeries of Prestwickshaws. In 1790 they were purchased 
by the Earl of Dumfries, and now, of course, belong to Lord 
Bute. 

Little is known of the early lairds of Boreland. They came, 
however, under the notice of the King'^s Council, for we are told 
that George Hamilton of Boreland and John Hamilton, his son, 
had a remission under the Privy Seal, for " syding with the Earl 
of Lennox '" in the battle of the Butts, fought near Glasgow in 
1648. The deed of remission is dated 1651 (Anderson, House of 
Hamilton^ p. 462). Another reference informs us that William 
Hamilton of Boreland was returned heir to Patrick Hamilton, 
his father, in 1611, " in the lands of Boreland and Towlach, the 
lands of Garlafien and the lands of Sandochhill, in the barony of 
Cumnock" (76., p. 239). John Hamilton of Boi*eland is men- 
tioned in the Presbytery records of 1660. 

An interesting relic of the castle is to be found in the kitchen 
of Boreland Smithy. Over the fireplace there has been inserted 



24 HisTOEY OF OiJ) Cumnock. 

a stone, about 3 feet long and 6 inches high, bearing in the 
centre the date 1677. On the left side are the initials H. M., 
and on the right M. H. These initials can only refer to Hugh 
Montgomerie of Prestwickshaws and his wife Margaret Hamilton, 
whom he married in 1670. Perhaps Hugh, having rebuilt or 
repaired the castle about that time, commemorated the date m 
this lasting way. Margaret Hamilton, who was sole heiress to her 
grandfather, Hugh Hamilton, brought as her dowry " the lands 
of Boreland, Sannochhill, Smidieland, Rhyderstoun, Netherton, 
Midton, Watston, Stay, Boreland Head, Roddinghead, Boreland 
Muir, and Calloch HilP' (Paterson, XL, 314). 

Various spellings of the name appear. Brodland, Borlandis, 
Boirdland, Boirlandis and Burland are all found. It has been 
suggested that the name may mean " mensal land,^ i.r., land held 
on the rental of a food-supply. 

Two interesting, if somewhat unintelligible, references to 
Cumnock are to be found in the Collection ofAndent Scottish 
Prophecies^ published by the Bannatyne Club (pp. 31, 32). In 
the one, the following advice is given : — 

" Beare thee weU to Both well and build it up all ; 
Then Craufurd and Cumnok with clcene men of armes, 
Let not lightlie the lois leap out of towne.'' 

The other tells us that 

** The Castel of Carrik that on a Craige standes 
Shall cry upon Camnok for a true neat." 

The ProphecieSy from which these lines are taken, probably be- 
long to the sixteenth century, and represent political under- 
currents of the time. 



The Baroks of Cumnock. S5 



CHAPTER n. 

The Baratis of Cumiiock, 

" I woald rather be first in my own village, than second in Rome.*' 

— CfUBar, 

The earliest references to Cumnock as a civil parish carry us 
back to feudal times, when the people owed allegiance to a 
local governor set over them by the king. This governor was 
known as the baron, while the district under his control was 
called the barony of Cumnock. No trace of the name lingers 
within our limits, but the Barony Road, close to the village of 
Auchinleck, is a memorial in that parish of the old order of 
things, which prevailed there as well as among ourselves. The 
exact date of the creation of Cumnock into a barony cannot be 
ascertained. Many baronies were called into existence about 
the middle of the twelfth century. In a deed dated 1360, 
allusion is made to the baron of Cumnock. At that time, 
therefore, the baronial system of government was in full force in 
our neighbourhood. It continued until the middle of the 
eighteenth century, when heritable jurisdictions of this kind were 
done away by Act of Parliament 

Baronies were of two classes. There were royalty baronies and 
reality baronies. The royalty baronies were subject directly to 
the authority of the king and his judges ; the regality baronies 
were placed under the control of nobles or ecclesiastics, who 



26 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

received the right of jurisdiction from the king. Cumnock was 
a regality barony, the baron of which was appointed by the 
crown. Succession to the barony with its various rights was 
hereditary. When the baron wished to demit his office with its 
privileges, he parted with it to another by gift or by sale. But 
each baron, as he succeeded to the title, required to receive a 
charter from the king investing him with all the rights of his 
position. 

Naturally, in districts erected into baronies, the local governor 
was chosen from among the great landowners. The duties he 
had to perform could only be discharged by one who possesssed 
a certain amount of wealth and military power. As a rule the 
lands he owned were granted to him by the king for services ren- 
dered in peace or in war. 

The first barons of Cumnock of whom we have notice were 
the Earls of March, who, in the opening years of the fourteenth 
century, owned the greater portion of the parish. The family 
name of the Earls was Dunbar. Their chief possessions were in 
the south-east of Scotland. The castle of Dunbar, in Hadding- 
tonshire, was their hereditary fortress. How these east country 
lords became connected with our district, it is not easy to say. 
Their lineage was high. One of them, Patrick, the eighth Earl, 
was a competitor for the Scottish crown in 1291, when Baliol 
was chosen king. He based his claim on his descent from Ilda 
or Ada, daughter of William the Lion. Before Edward I. gave 
his decision Patrick withdrew his claim. It is quite possible that 
even at that time Earl Patrick was baron of Cumnock. If he 
did not enjoy the title of baron, he was at least the proprietor of 



The Barons of Cumnock. 27 

the castle of Cumnock, and of a certain portion of the adjoining 
lands. 

It is melancholy, however, to relate that this great noble, who 
held the chief fortress in our vicinity, was not in favour of Scot- 
land's struggle for freedom, and had actually taken ser\'ice in the 
army of England. Indeed, he had so little of the patriotic 
spirit that in 1296 he accepted certain lands, of the annual value 
of d£^100, as a gift from Edward I., who thereby gained more 
thoroughly his allegiance. It would be a curious thing if Cum- 
nock came into his hands as part of the price of his disloyalty. 
He repaid the gift in a manner disastrous to the heroic Wallace, 
for two years later, along with the Earl of Angus, he betrayed 
the Scottish army to Edward, whom he informed of the situation 
and intended action of his countrymen. The terrible defeat of 
Falkirk was the result. Immediately afterwards the English 
king appointed him captain of his forces and castles south of the 
Forth. In 1307 he still proved himself the vassal of Edward 
by proceeding into Galloway with the Earl of Richmond against 
Edward Bruce, and crowned his disloyalty by placing at the dis- 
posal of his country's foes his " castle at Comenogh." In the 
following year (10th October, 1308) he died. 

There seems every reason, therefore, to believe that this un- 
patriotic Earl of March was proprietor of the lands and the 
castle of Cumnock in the beginning of the fourteenth century, 
and possibly baron as well. K so, the baronial history of our 
parish opens in a way so untoward, that we have no reason to 
be proud of the name of him who fii-st claimed authority to rule 
in our district. We cannot, however, believe that our ancestors 



28 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

sympathised with their feudal lord, who was not Ayrshire bom. 
The spirit of the men of Kyle, as the history of the time reveals, 
was far different, and down in Cumnock village and its neigh- 
bourhood, five miles from the castle of the Earl, that love for 
Bruce and his great forerunner was sure to show itself, which 
would lead the people to do and die for Scotland and for liberty. 
Certainly, Earl Patrick had a noble opportunity of writing his 
name in honourable letters on one of the grandest pages of his 
country'^s history. Had he only used the opportunity aright, we 
in Cumnock would have been able to recall with pleasure the 
fact that our earliest known ruler was a bold and fearless worker 
for the independence of our land. As it is, we can only brand 
him with the name of traitor. 

Patrick's successor in the Earldom of March at first followed 
in the steps of his fatlier, and allied himself with England. He, 
too, was named Patrick. In the line of Earls he was the ninth. 
His political sympathies were clearly shown by the assistance he 
gave to Edward II. after the battle of Bannockbum, for he re- 
ceived the conquered king into his castle at Dunbar, and helped 
him to escape by sea to his own country. Soon after, however, 
a change came over his views, and he, with his forces, joined the 
army of Robert Bruce, taking part in the siege of Berwick in 
1318. Later on, he adhered to the cause of David II., the son 
and successor of Bnice, but in 1332 he was not unjustly suspected 
of favouring the cliiim of Edward Haliol to the Scottish crown. 
Fourteen yeai'H afterwards h(» took part in the disastrous expedi- 
tion to England, which culminated in the defeat at Neville's 
Cross, but was able to lead l>m*k to Scotland a portion of the 



The Baroks of Cumnock. 29 

army. Without doubt this Earl of March and owner of Cum- 
nock achieved more for his country than his father, but he was 
not regarded by his contemporaries as altogether loyal, even after 
he broke with Edward. 

Yet, if his name is not quite stainless, no blot attaches to that 
of his wife. It may even be that his political conversion was the 
result of the energy and devotion of his Countess in the cause of 
liberty. For she was no other than the daughter of Thomas 
Randolph, Earl of Moray, and grandniece of Bruce himself. In 
history she is known as Black Agnes of Dunbar — a name she 
received partly fix)m the darkness of her complexion, and partly 
from the spirited and successful defence she offered, in her castle 
at Dunbar, to the English besiegers in 1338. The story of her 
heroism is best told in the words of Sir Walter Scott : — 

*^ The castle of Dunbar was very strong, being built upon a 
chain of rocks stretching into the sea, and having only one pass- 
age to the mainland, which was well fortified. It was besieged 
by Montague, Earl of Salisbury, who employed to destroy its 
walls great military engines, constructed to throw huge stones, 
with which machines fortifications were attacked before the use 
of cannon. 

^* Black Agnes set all his attempts at defiance, and showed 
herself with her maids on the walls of the castle, wiping the 
places where the huge stones fell with a clean towel, as if they 
could do no ill to her castle, save raising a little dust, which a 
napkin could wipe away. 

"The Earl of Salisbury then commanded the engineers to 
bring forward to the assault an engine of another kind, being a 



30 History of Old Cumnock. 

sort of wooden shed or house, rolled forward on wheels, with a 
roof of peculiar strength, which, from resembling the ridge of a 
hog'^s back, occasioned the machine to be called a sow. This, 
according to the old mode of warfare, was thrust close up to the 
walls of a besieged castle or city, and served to protect, from the 
arrows and stones of the besieged, a party of soldiers placed 
within the sow, who being thus defended, were in the meanwhile 
employed in undermining the wall, or breaking an entrance 
through it with pickaxes and mining tools. When the Countess 
of March saw this engine advanced to the walls of the castle, she 
called out to the Earl of Salisbury in derision and making a kind 
of rhyme — 

' Beware, Montagow, 
For farrow shall thy sow.' 

" At the same time she made a signal, and a huge fragment of 
rock, which hung prepared for the purpose, was dropped down 
from the wall upon the sow, whose roof was thus dfished to 
pieces. As the English soldiers, who had been within it, were 
running as fast as they could to get out of the way of the arrows 
and stones which were discharged upon them from the wall. 
Black Agnes called out, * Behold the litter of English pigs.' 

" The Earl of Salisbury could jest also on such serious occa- 
sions. One day he rode near the walls with a knight dressed in 
armour of proof, having three folds of mail over an acton or 
leathern jacket ; notwithstanding which, one William Spens shot 
an arrow from the battlements of the castle with such force that 
it penetrated all these defences, and reached the heart of the 
wearer. * That is one of my lady's love-tokens,' said the earl, as 



The Barons of Cumnock. 31 

he saw the knight fall dead from his horse. ^ Black Agnes's 
love-shafts pierce to the heart.' . . . 

" At length the castle of Dunbar was relieved by Alexander 
Ramsay of Dalwolsy, who brought the Countess supplies by sea 
both of men and provisions. The Earl of Salisbury, learning 
this, desp€ured of success, and raised the siege, which had lasted 
nineteen weeks. The minstrels made songs in praise of the per- 
severance and courage of Black Agnes. The following lines are 
nearly the sense of what is preserved : — 

" She kept a stir in tower and trench, 
That brawling, boisterous Scottish wench ; 
Came I early, came I late, 
I found Agnes at the gate.*' 

— {Tales of a OrandfcUher, cap. xiv.) 

Thus did the noble Agnes prove herself a worthy kinswoman 
of Bobert the Bruce, and atone in some measure for the guilt of 
her husband in opening the gates of the castle, in 1314, to 
Edward II. Doubtless she visited the family possessions in Ayr- 
shire, and none would be prouder of the martial exploits of the 
Countess than the people of our parish, who, thirty years before, 
bemoaned the surrender of the ** castle of Comenogh " into the 
hands of the southern foe. 

Patrick, the husband of Agnes, resigned the Earldom of March 
and the barony of Cumnock in 1363, six years before his death. 
In 1369 the countess also died. The titles passed to their 
nephew, Greorge, the son of Agnes'* sister Geilis, who had 
married John, the brother of Patrick. Five years later a charter 
was granted, under the Great Seal, by David II. to George, con- 



32 History of Old CuifNocir. 



finning hxui in the bai'ony of Cumnock and also in the earldom 
of March. This earl, the tenth of the line, was one of the most 
powerful and ambitious nobles of the time. His daughter, 
Elizabeth, was betrothed to the unfortunate Duke of Rothesay, 
son and heir of Robert III., whose dissipated life and sad death 
are told by Sir Walter Scott in The Fair Maid of Perth. For- 
tunately for Elizabeth, the betrothal was broken off. In his 
anger at the breach of contract, her father deserted to the 
English. But upon his story it is not needful to enter, for 
twelve years after he became baron of Cumnock, Greorge followed 
the example of his uncle, and transferred his title to the barony 
to David Dunbar of Enterkin, who was confirmed in it by royal 
charter in the same year. This David was a kinsman of the 
earl. As he did not succeed to the lordship of March, he could 
not have been the heir to the earldom. In all probability he 
bought the barony. At any rate, his entrance upon the office of 
baron severed the connection between Cumnock and the titled 
house of March. From 1375 the possessoi-s of our barony are 
no longer Earls of March, but are simply known as the Dunbars 
of Cumnock. Yet, if they ceased to be nobles, they enjoyed a 
certain social distinction ; they were entitled to use before their 
names the honourable epithet of " Sir." 

The Dunbars continued to hold the barony of Cumnock till 
about 1612, when John Dunbar of Cumnock and Westfield, 
hereditary Sheriff of Moray, as several of his predecessors had 
been before him, sold the barony, with all its rights and privi- 
leges, and from that date Cumnock ceased to be one of the titles 
of the family of Dunbar. 



The Barons of Cumnock. 33 

The mention of John Dunbar of Cumnock and Westfield lets 
us see that our local barons were also at one period proprietors 
and civil officials in another part of the country. There were 
Dunbars in Morayshire at a very early stage in Scottish history. 
They were of the same stock as our Dunbars, but the two 
families were not closely united till a little before 1474. At that 
time we find Euphemia, eldest daughter of Sir Patrick Dunbar 
of Cumnock, married to Sir James Dunbar of Westfield, in the 
parish of Spynie in Moi'ayshire. Patrick had no male heir. 
Accordingly, Euphemia and her husband obtained the barony of 
Cumnock, and their heirs continued to be spoken of as the Dun- 
bars of Cumnock and Westfield. At an earlier period the estate 
of Mochrum, in Wigtonshire, was owned also by a branch of 
the family. It is only a few years ago since it passed out of the 
hands of the Dunbars into those of the Maixjuis of Bute. The 
Cumnock Dunbars were likewise proprietors of Blantyre, in 
I^narkshire, till 1598. 

One or two personal notes about these barons and their kins- 
men may be interesting. They will show us what kind of men 
they were who ruled within our borders, and what kind of life 
was lived by our people four or five centuries ago. 

The earliest circumstance worthy of mention is connected with 
Sir Patrick Dunbar, who was created baron about 1400. He 
was a man of mark, for he was sent by the Government of Scot- 
land in 1423 to England as a hostage. In that year James I. 
came back, after his compulsory stay in the south, to reign over 
his own dominions. A treaty was formed between the two 

nations, by which Scotland undertook to pay to its. neighbour 

c 



34 History of Old Cuhxock. 

acrosH the l>order, the sum of cf 40,000 in twenty annual instal- 
ments, nominally to defray the expense of the education of 
James. As security for the payment of this money, twenty-eight 
hostiiges were demanded from among the noblest families of 
Scotland. One of them was our baron, Sir Patrick. After the 
name of each hostage an entry appears giving a statement of his 
aimual income. Sir Patrick's is put down at 500 merks stg., a 
fairly large sum as things went in those days. He remained for 
at least three yeai-s in England, for in 1426, his wife was granted 
a safe conduct to visit him in his confinement. In 1428, by 
which time he htid been set at liberty, he was appointed one of 
the ambassadors extraordinary to the court of England. Alto- 
gether, Sir Patrick seems to have been a man of substance and 
power. 

The next personal note, regarding the baronial family of 
Cumnock, carries us to the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
It gives an insight into the unsettled state of matters at the 
time. The baron was not always able to keep order witliin his 
jurisdiction. Neighbouring proprietors resisted his authority and 
caniod on those feuds among themselves, and even witli him, 
which were so characteristic of our country long ago. We read 
that in 1512, Patrick Dunbar of Corsintoune (Corsincon ?) when 
attending mass in Cumnock church one Sabbath, was murdered. 
Evidently this Patrick was a kinsman of the baron. At the time 
of his death the people were gathered together for divine service. 
But they were powerless to prevent the foul crime. For we are 
told that ** remission of blame*" was given in the matter to 
"William Craufurd of Lefnoryis, Alexander Campbell of Skelling- 



The Babons of Cumxock. 95 

toune, parochinaris of the said kirk, and generally to all the 
remanent of the parochinaris tharof and utheris our lieges being 
thair assemblit, the tyme of the committing of the said slauchter." 
One of the actual murderers, Andro Campbell, was taken and 
hanged, doubtless at the Gallows Enowe, while Duncan Campbell 
and John Stillie were put to the horn. Robert Campbell of . 
Schankistoune, George and John, his brothers, James Campbell 
of Clewis and others were also denounced as rebels {Pater son^ I., 
p. Ixviii.). The murder of this Dunbar in the sanctuary of God 
when the worshippers were assembled — a murder deliberately 
planned and carried out — opens a page in our local history, 
which we would willingly obliterate if we could. 

In 1513 the baron, Sir James, sent one of his kinsmen, David, 
to Flodden, where he fell on the field of battle along with many 
other lairds and noblemen from Ayrshire. A Colville of Ochiltree 
and a Boswell of Auchinleck were also among the slain. Many 
of the baron's retainers are certain to have followed his standard 
to Flodden, and to have perished fighting around their king. 

Thirty-eight years later, the action of Sir Alexander Dunbar 
of Cumnock and Westfield gives us some indication of the way 
in which men^s minds were being influenced by the truths, which 
were shortly to bring about the establishment of the Protestant 
religion in Scotland. On 18th August, 1551, this baron, then 
residing on his Morayshire estates, was ^^ denounced rebel, and 
all his moveables ordained to be escheated ... for his not 
underlying the law this day for treasonably intercomniuning, 
resetting and supplying Norman Leslie, formerly master of Leslie, 
the queen's convicted traitor and rebel . . . publicly funiishing 



86 ttisTOEY OF Old Cumxocic. 

m 

him with meat, drink, and lodging in the months of December 
and January last." This Norman Leslie was one of the chief 
leaders in the murder of Cai'dinal Beaton. That our baron 
should harbour him in Morayshire is proof of a certain interest 
displayed by him in the work of reformation, nine years before 
Knox succeeded in making the Reformation an accomplished 
fact. 

We must not argue, however, from such a circumstance, that 
men like Sir Alexander Dunbar, in their opposition to the 
Romish Church, were always actuated by a sincere desire to see 
the coiTuptions of that Church removed. Some of them, at 
least, had a keen eye to the destination of the property of the 
church, when it should pass from the hands of the Roman 
Catholics. And at the same time, along with much apparent 
zeal for the cause of reformation, which led them to destroy 
altars and carry away communion cups, they were not slow to 
take the opportunity of promoting private feuds and settling old 
quarrels with their neighbours. This baron, Alexander, who 
was called " The Bold,'^ from the fearlessness of his spirit, was 
no exception. In 1554 he was put to the horn, along with his 
son Patrick, for " the slaughter of James Cummyng in Dolhicc- 
brachty," son of Alexander Cummyng of Altyre, near Forres. 
In the same year, " Patrick Dunbar, young laird of Cumnok," 
along with othei*s, was denounced rebel and put to the honi, for 
the slaughter of Thomas Russel, " committed in the house of 
Balnageiche." One of his securities on that occasion was " George 
Dunbar of Cumnok,^ probably a relative, who is called the parson 
of that parish. It thus appeal's that some at least of our barons 



The Baroxs of Cumnock. 37 

and their kinsmen were very much inclined to take the law into 
their own hands, and to attempt to put in practice the crude 
idea that might is right. 

Another matter of interest may be noted. In 1547 an order 
was sent by the Privy Council doubtless to the baron, calling 
upon Cumnock to provide its share of a hundred men for the 
suppression of crime in the district of Mofiat. It is difficult to 
say why so many men at arms should have been required in 
Annandale to keep the peace. Perhaps their presence was ren- 
dered necessary by the repeated incursions of the Border raiders, 
who were particularly active at that time in plundering their 
own coimtrymen. Cumnock, we may be sure, sent the quota of 
men required. 

No data have come down to us from which we may learn how 
far the Dunbars attended personally to the affiiirs of the barony, 
and how far they entrusted them to the care of subordinates. 
When united through marriage with the Dunbars of Morayshire, 
they seem to have remained for the most part in their northern 
home. Doubtless they visited their Ayrshire possessions occa- 
sionally, and while they were away from Cumnock, fiequent com- 
munications would pass between them and the agents whom they 
left in their place. But at length it began to be felt, both by 
them and by the people, that such absenteeism was hardly com- 
patible with the fulfilment of their official duty as barons. 
Matters were put in a new form about 1612, when John Dunbar, 
preferring to live altogether at Westfield, sold the barony of 
Cumnock, with all its civil and ecclesiastical rights, and the 
name of Dunbar, which had been the great name in the parish 



38 History of Old Cumnock. 

for at least three hundred years, passed away completely from its 
history. 

The residence of the Dunbars was the Castle of Cumnock. 
All trace of it has gone. The stones of the old stronghold were 
long ago removed by thoughtless hands for building purposes. 
Part of the moat round it, however, may still be seen. The site 
is now occupied by the Free Church of New Cumnock, which is 
locally known as the " Castle ^ church. According to the 
minute book of the heritors of New Cumnock, it appears that 
the proprietors of the parish met at the old castle, in September, 
1784, in order to define the march between the glebe and the 
farm land of Little Mains or Castle. Mention is made, in the 
statement of the proceedings, of the " castle byre.'' Towards 
the end of the 18th century, therefore, there must have been a 
considerable ruin standing. 

But perhaps the following extract fmm the Registrum Magni 
Siffilli points to two castles, an earlier and a later, on the same 
site. We read that at Edinburgh, 26th August, 1680, the king 
granted to William Cunynghame of Caprintoun and his heirs, 
the castle and fortalice of Cumnock, " then in ruins.*" The 
reference is mainly of interest because it tells us that the ances- 
tral stronghold of the Dunbars was destroyed some time before 
1580. At a later period the castle was rebuilt, for in the Acts 
of Parliament dealing with the erection of the parish church of 
New Cumnock in 1650, it is stated that the " new kirk at Cum- 
nock was erected at the new castle of Cumnock.'' 

It is sometimes asserted, as, for example, by Keith in his 
Catalogue of Scottish BishopSj that Gavin Dunbar, the popular 



The Barons of Cumnocx. 39 

bishop of Aberdeen from 1518 to 1682, sprang from the Dunbars 
of Cumnock. But there can be no doubt that he was the son of 
Sir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, and was bom before the 
Dunbars of Ajrrshire intermarried with their namesakes in Moray- 
shire. Keith also makes a mistake in connecting Archbishop 
Gravin Dunbar of Glasgow with Cumnock. This scholarly pre- 
late, who was entrusted with the education of James V., and who 
is roughly handled by Knox in his History of the Reformation^ 
was a cadet of the house of Mochrum. Neither of these ecclesi- 
astics, therefore, can be claimed as belonging to our parish. 

When the Dunbars resigned the bai^ony of Cumnock, it passed 
in quick succession through several hands. We find, for instance, 
that Cunynghame of Caprintoun was in possession of it some 
time before 1623, for in that year the Privy Council sent down a 
case to be adjudicated by him as baron. He surrendered it, 
however, in 1630, and was succeeded by William Crichton, Vis- 
count of Ayr, afterwards Earl of Dumfries, who retained it only 
till December, 1637. In the following month the Earl of Queens- 
berry was appointed baron. Five years later it passed from him 
and came into the possession of James Crichton of Abercrombie 
(St. Monance), a kinsman of the Dumfries family, whose estates 
were in Fife, and who, in his capacity of baron, presented two 
ministers, John Halkeid and John Cunynghame, to the parish. 
Eventually, in the reign of Charles II., the Earl of Dumfries was 
invested with the baronial office, and he and his heirs kept it 
until it was abolished bv Act of Parliament in 1747. 

It is not possible to explain why the barony changed hands so 
often during the seventeenth century, or why two barons, 



40 History of Old Citmnock. 

Cunynghame of Caprintoun and the Earl of Queensberry, who 
apparently were not intimately connected with the parish, should 
have received the appointment. The clue to these doings of the 
Privy Council is difficult to discover. 

It would not serve any purpose in relation to this history to 
refer particularly to all these barons, but as the last holders of 
the title are still represented in the district, some account of 
them will not be out of place. 

For a lengthened period the Crichtons had possessed estates 
of great extent in the county of Dumfries. Their ancestral 
stronghold was the famous Crichton Peel at Sanquhar, built in 
the twelfth century. As time went on the wealth of the family 
diminished, so that they deemed it expedient to part with their 
lands and go elsewhere. 

ITie traditional story of the loss of their wealth is interesting. 

I^rd Crichton had certain money transactions with James I. 
of England, who was indebted to him for a very large amount. 
The royal borrower, on his visit to Scotland in 1617, detennined 
to accept the hospitality of Crichton Peel. He reached the 
castle with a splendid retinue of courtiers, headed by the hand- 
some Duke of Buckingham. The entertainment was of the most 
costly description. No expense wiis spared in order to show 
goodwill to the king, and gain the continuance of the royal 
favour. To crown the festivities, Crichton took the bond he 
held from the king, and, rolling it into a taper, used it as a light 
to lead his guest to his sleeping chamber. In a few moments his 
claim on James had passed away in smoke. The king was 
naturally delighted with the loyalty and munificence of his Dum- 



The Barons of Cumnock. 41 



friesshire noble, and in highest spirit set off on his journey to 
England. Lord Crichton, however, found he had most seriously 
exhausted his resources. His coffers were sadly emptied. He 
had made the king merry, but had brought himself to the verge 
of ruin. A few years later, he sold his estate and purchased in 
place of it, property in the parish of Cumnock. 

In tardy acknowledgment of the lavish generosity he displayed 
at Crichton Peel, the king created him Viscount of Ayr in 1622. 
Eleven years later, Charles I. raised him to the dignity of Earl 
of Dumfries and Baron Crichton of Cumnock. In 1635, he be- 
came proprietor of the castle or ward of Lefnoreis with certain 
lands round about it, which for generations had been in the 
possession of the old family of the Craufurds. WTien the juris- 
diction of barons was annulled, compensation was given for the 
loss of baronial rights. The Earl of Dumfries accordingly 
received <£^400for the regality of Cunmock and Glenmuir. He 
claimed, however, a much larger sum. The patronage of the 
church of Cumnock was also in the gift of the Dumfries family 
until it was abolished in 1874. 

In 1760, William, the fourth Earl of Dumfries, succeeded to 
the title and property of his brother James, Earl of Stair, and 
was thenceforward styled Earl of Dumfries and Stair. On his 
death eight years afterwards, the titles and properties again be- 
came separate. As he had no lineal descendant, he was succeeded 
in the Earldom of Dumfries by his nephew, Patrick Macdowall 
of Freugh, whose eldest daughter, Elizabeth Penelope Crichton, 
married in 1792 John, eldest son of the Earl, afterwards the 
Marquis, of Bute. Both she and her husband died during the 



42 History of Old Cumnock. 

lifetime of her father, so that Patrick Macdowall, on his death in 
1803, was succeeded by his daughter's elder son, John, the sixth 
Earl of Dumfries, then ten years old. In 1805, he obtained the 
king's permission to assume the surname of Crichton, in addition 
to and before that of Stuart, his paternal name, and also to bear 
the arms of Crichton quarterly with the arms of Stuart. On the 
death of his paternal grandfather, on the 16th November, 1814, 
he became Marquis of Bute as well as Earl of Dumfries. He 
was twice married. His first wife was Lady Meuia, eldest 
daughter of the Earl of Guildford, and his second, Lady Sophia 
Hastings, second daughter of the Earl of Moira. He died on 
the 18th March, 1848, leaving by his second wife one son, John 
Patrick, the present Marquis, who was bom in 1847. 

One public office held by the late Lord Bute is worthy of 
mention. He was the Queen's Commissioner to the General 
Assembly of 1842, and again in 1843, the year of the Disruption 
of the Church of Scotland. Of the manner in which he fulfilled 
his commission. Dr. Buchanan says in his Ten Years' CoTiflkt : — 
" His position entitled, and his great wealth enabled him to ap- 
pear with all those external attributes of official dignity and 
splendour which dazzle the multitude. The repi^esentative of 
royalty had never, on any former occasion, approached the 
supreme court of Scotland's simple and unpretending presbyterian 
church in such a blaze of grandeur." (II. p. 485.) It fell to the 
Marquis also, to transmit to Her Majesty a copy of the Claim of 
Rights adopted by the Church at the General Assembly of 1842. 
This he did with the well-known result ; the Claim was set aside 
by the Government of the day. 



/ 



The Barons of Cumnock. 43 

From this digression, however, made in order to follow the 
history of our old baronial rulers down to recent times, we must 
turn and say something of the powers possessed by the barons, 
and the maimer in which they exercised them. 

During the four centuries and a half almost for which they 
held jurisdiction in our parish, many changes must have taken 
place both in the power they wielded and the methods they 
pursued. Erskine in his Principles of Scottish Law^ thus states 
the rights conferred on a regality baron like oure. " To consti- 
tute a baron in the strict law-sense of the word, one must have 
his lands either erected or at least confirmed by the king in 
liberam baroniam. A baron in this sense enjoyed a fixed juris- 
diction, both civil and criminal, which in the general case he 
might exercise either by himself or by his deputy called a bailie. 
In civil matters he might have judged in questions of debt within 
the barony or in most of the possessory actions ; and though by 
a known rule, no person ought to judge in his own cause, a baron 
may judge in all such actions between himself or his vassals and 
tenants, as are necessary for making his rents and feu-duties 
effectual. . . . Thus, he may ascertain the price of corns 
due by a tenant, and pronounce sentence against him for arrears 
of rent ; he may in consequence of his own decree, compel his 
tenants to perform to him all the services either contained in 
their rights or fixed by usage, and to carry their corns to the 
mill of the barony ; . . . but in all the cases where he him- 
self was a party, he could not judge in person. He had also a 
power of police by which he might fix reasonable prices upon 
work done in the barony. 



44 History of Old Cumnock. 

" The criminal jurisdiction of a baron reached to all crimes 
except treason and the four pleas of the crown (robbery, murder, 
rape, and fire-raising), and even by our late law he might have 
judged not only in reckless fire-raising, in processes for breaking 
of orchards and dovecots, destroying of greenwood and of plant- 
ing, etc., provided the offenders were taken in the fact, and in 
riots and bloodwits, the fines of which he might have appropri- 
ated to himself, but in the capital crime of theft, thougli he 
should not have the clause cum fossa etforca in his charter; yet 
he could judge in no other capital crime, if he had not been 
specially infeft with that privilege.*" (pp. 85, 86). 

As the baron therefore had the power to try many civil and 
criminal causes, it was needful to have one or more courts of jus- 
tice in the barony. These courts met in the open air, and the 
place, where they were convened, consisted usually of a small 
eminence called a mote hill or a judgment hill. Many of these 
are to be found all over the country. There is one in New 
Cumnock, and in Cumnock itself there is the well-known mote 
hill on the banks of the Lugar, which surrounds it on three sides. 
It is fifty or sixty feet high, and from fifty to a hundred feet 
broad. Tiie summit is crowned by a ridge four or five feet wide. 
In length the hill is six hundred feet. 

This, then, was the tribunal, on which the barons, in person or 
by deputy, listened to cases under their jurisdiction, and pro- 
nounced sentence upon them. Near at hand were the means for 
carrying their judgment into execution in the case of those con- 
demned to death. For it is only a little distance from the mote 
hill to the gallows hill. That hill is rendered sacred now by the 



L. 



The Barons of Cumnock. 45 

dust of Peden and of the martyrs who fell in defence of the 
covenants. It has been a part of the ordinary burying ground 
for several generations. But it must have presented a very dif- 
ferent appearance in bygone centuries, when the only object to 
be seen on the rising ground was the gibbet, on which men paid, 
justly or unjustly, the penalty of death. For, from the fact that 
the gallows was standing when the dragoons brought to it the 
body of Peden, we must suppose that it was never taken down, 
but was ready at any moment to bear its awful charge. Death 
by hanging was no infrequent thing in those old days. 

The gallows, however, was only for men. Another mode of 
capital punishment was reserved for women against whom an 
adverse decree had been issued. The baron had not only the 
power of the gallows, but of the pit as well (fossa etjurca). 
This pit was a large hole, natural or artificial, filled with water. 
The poor woman, who incurred the penalty, was put into a sack, 
and then, after the mouth of the sack had been tied, thrown into 
the pit to be drowned. There does not seem to be any tradition 
in our parish of a pit, used for this purpose, in close proximity 
to the gallows hill. But one of the numerous pools in the 
Lugar, at the foot of the mote hill, would serve well the ends of 
justice. On the other side of the Lugar, near the road leading 
to Templand Mains, there are some rocky boulders known as 
"The Hangman's Stairs.*" How this name was given to the 
natural stone steps, which stretch from the bank of the stream 
down to the water, we cannot tell. The name doubtless indicates 
some connection with the official executioner. But the steps are 
not in our parish. They arc in Auchinleck, and consequently 



46 HisroiY OP Old CrMXocK. 

oiitaide the bounds within which the writ of the baron of Cum- 
nock ran. 

It is evident that the power of the liarons was very great. 
Yet it was Hmiteil in certain directions bv the Crown, with the 
result that matters, which could not be disposed of locally, were 
submitted to the Privy Council for judgment Hence the 
Rcffhfirr of the Prhj^ Coiowil contains a large number of cases 
sent up for settlement from Cumnock to Edinburgh. Many of 
these are of extreme interest fn>m the light they throw on the 
social life of the |)arish. They bring before us also the names of 
resident in Cumnoi'k of all ranks, who figure i\s the chief parties 
concerned in the proceeilings, or as witnesses. 

A very early reference bears upon the baron himself, who at 
the time was staying at his Momyshire home and taking part in 
the feuds of that district. In 1553, it is said tliat ^^ Alexander 
Dunbar of Cumnock is ordered to deliver up his eldest son, to 
keep the peace with Alexander CunmnTig of Forres, to the Lord 
of Huntly, Lieutenant of the north part of this realme.^ 

The next instance is more intimatelv connected with our 
locality. In 1575, the Council had before them a case of rather 
shfirp dealing, the aggrieved person being a fiuiner in Auchin- 
leck parish. The case was this. Robert Barbour, tenant of 
Barglachane, was in need of money. William Cunynghame of 
the Bume offered to give him the loan of i?100, and arranged to 
go with him to the " clachan of Cumnock," to a " notar, Johnne 
Gemmell bv name,*^ in order to have the necessarv deed drawn 
Up and ftubscriberl. This was duly done. Cunynghame, how- 
ever, managed to get hold of the document to which Barbour's 



•^ 



The Barons of Cumnock. 47 

signature was attached, and went off with it without handing 
over the ,£*100 to Barbour. The defrauded fanner of Barglachane 
brought the matter before the Kings's Council in Edinburgh. 
Without hesitation they adjudged William Cunynghame to be 
" our soverane lordis rebel and put him to the horn.*" 

Another interesting case occurs under date 1595. In it the 
laird of liOgan becomes security for a large amount, that the 
tenant of GarlafF shall do no personal injury to a neighbour. 
The document runs in this way : — " Registration by Mr. Robert 
Irving as procurator of band (bond) by George Logan of that 
nk for George Murdoch in GarlofF i?500, not to harme Johnne 
Broune there, as by letters, dated Edinburgh, 15th November, 
subscribed at Cumnock, 3rd December, before James Gibsoun, 
notary, Stephen Tennant in Burnoksyde, and James Wallace 
servitor to Johnne Gremmel, notary in Cumnok, writer hereof, 
Gemmel signing for Logan." Many such entries occur in the 
old Register, testifying to the great amount of business of this 
kind done by the Privy Council, in the intei*ests of law and order. 
The Councillors could not have been idle men, when they had to 
attend to cases of this nature submitted to them in countless 
number from every parish in the land. It will be noticed that 
two of the witnesses to this document, at the close of the six- 
teenth century, were notaries, both of whom lived in Cumnock. 
Disputes, involving the intei'vention of men skilled in law, must 
have been frequent in a sparsely populated parish such as Cum- 
nock was then, in order to support at least two notaries. We 
can only hope that in this case, Logan was not called upon to 



48 History of Old Cumnock. 

pay his bond, and that Johnne Broimc lived to the end of his 
clays unharmed by George Murdoch of GarlofF. 

An extract from the proceedings of 1605 shows that a species 
of l>oycotting was fostered by the Privy Council. In that year 
they decreed that " Hew Campbell of Bogturroch (now Boig), 
son of Hew Camplx?ll of Garrallane, shall not reset or inter- 
commune with Patrick Hervie at the Kirk of Cumnok, while he 
lies at the horn to which he had been put for not flitting and 
removing from certain houses at the Kirk of Cumnok.*" 

The next two references reveal the kind of scene which must 
sometimes have been enacted within the precincts of the church 
on the Sabbath day. \Vc know how one of the Dunbar family 
w?is slain while attending pu])]ic worship in 1512. Apparently 
that case does not stand by itself. Though we cannot say that 
murder was actually committed again in such circumstances, it 
was frequently the habit of hostile families to meet at the church 
on the Lord'*s day, even after the Reformation had taken place. 
Here is a remit sent down by the Privy Council in 1607. It is 
entitled, " Charge to Cunynghame of Caprintoun and others not 
to make convocation at the Kirk of Cumnok."''' 

" Understanding that — Cunynghame, younger of Caprintoun, 

Daniel Cunynghame of Dalkeith, etc., on the one part, and 

Crawfurd of Auchincors on the other part, intend to make con- 
vocation of their friends in arms, and to meet at the Kirk of 
Cumnock in heat, strife and contention, the Lords ordain both 
parties to be charged to hold no meeting at the said kirk, and to 
make no convocation hereafter within the barony of Cumnock, 



The Baroks of Cumnock. 49 

till order be taken between them, and also to appear on 18th 
August next to answer in the premisses under pain of rebellion.'" 

That was sharp procedure on the part of the Council, and 
certainly it seems to have been fully warranted by what we know 
of one of the parties concerned. For in the following year, the 
Cunynghames purposed to act in the same manner towards the 
family of Lefiioreis. More stringent measures still were taken to 
keep the peace, as the document itself shows. There being, it 
tells us, "verie grite contraversie" between William Cunynghame 

of Caprintoun and his son on the one part, and Crawfurd 

of Lefnoreis and his son on the other, so that it is likely that at 
their first repfidring to their " parish kirk of Cumnok, some grite 
inconvenience sail fall out," both parties are ordered not to repair 
to the kirk, till their quarrel be settled, under pain of 10,000 
merks, and also to subscribe assurances to one another to endure 
till Ist April, 1609, and to find caution in 10,000 merks for 
keeping the same inviolate. 

How the parties concerned obsen^ed this chai-ge, the records 
do not state. But we have sufficient evidence to prove that the 
Privy Council of Scotland took a decided interest in the doings 
of our remote Ayrshire parish, and did all in their power to make 
rival tenants and landlords live in peace. Yet it is painful to 
observe how frequently the house of God was made the meeting- 
place for settling disputes with arms and blood. 

The chief feature of the following case is its reference to a 
market held in Cumnock so far back as the year 1606, though 
the story is principally taken up with the account of a personal 
quarrel. The residence of one of the parties concerned gives us 



50 HmoBT OP Old 



the old spelling of Skerrington. George and Andrew MKI^ubane, 
serviton to George Crawford in Lefiioreis, complain that while 

they were attending the market in the town of Cumnock on 

October last, Johnne Hervie, of Skellingtoim Mill, and his eldest 
fton George, pursued them for their lives. Greoige Hervie struck 
the first complainer on the head with his sword-guard, and there- 
with "dang in his ham pane and fellit him deid" to the ground, 
while Johnne Hervie "strak the said Andro in at the bak with 
ane mylne pick," to the efiusion of blood. Of course, the de- 
fenders have something to say in their own behalf. They plead 
that they were first attacked. The Council evidently take this 
view of the case, and ordain the Her\'ie8 to pursue the M'Cubaaes 
for assault before the judge ordinary by 15th February next. 

Another instance of dealing with criminals is given under date 
24th June, 1623. The Council did not decide the case them- 
selves, but deputed Sir William Cunjughame of Caprintoun, 
who was the baron at the time, and his bailies, to investigate the 
matter. In the commission they received imder the royal signet, 
they were authorised to try Gilbert Brown of Garclach within 
the barony of Cumnock, who, having been long suspected of 
being a common thief, was lately apprehended " with the fang of 
a stolen scheip"" by the said Sir William's bailies, and having 
** ryppit the same, they fand the remains of uther two scheip, 
(juhilk he confest he staw fra James Tailfeir in Cumnok.*" 



Up till the beginning of the sixteenth century, the baron 
exercised complete control under the Crown over the whole 
district. In 1509, however, a change took place, by which 



The Babons of Cumnock. 51 

limited goveming powers were given to the inhabitants of the 
village of Cumnock. In that year a charter was granted by the 
King, James IV., to the baron, Sir James Dunbar, in virtue of 
which the church lands of Cumnock were erected into a Burgh 
of Barony, and the people living within the defined area invested 
with certain rights and privileges connected with trade, with 
markets, and with the appointment of magistrates. As this 
charter is referred to fixim time to time in the course of this 
history, it will be well to give it in full. It is taken from The 
Register of the Great Seed. The document is in Latin, but the 
following translation sufficiently sets forth its terms. 

Charter of James Dunbar of Cumnock. 

** James, by the grace of Grod, King of the Scots, to all honour- 
able persons throughout his realm, both among the clergy and 
laity, greeting. Enow that for the special favour which we bear 
towards our beloved James Dunbar of Cumnock, for the growth 
and good government of the barony of Cumnock, especially in 
the neighbourhood of the parish church of Cumnock, and also 
for the well-being and civil freedom of our lieges gathered there, 
we have made and created, and by this our present charter do 
make and create, the ecclesiastical lands and glebe of the said 
church of Cumnock, extending to two merk lands of old extent, 
with the adjoining groimds in the said barony of Cumnock within 
the county of Ayr, a free burgh in barony to be called the 
Burgh of Cumnock in perpetuity. 

"We have likewise granted to the inhabitants of the said 
biugh, present and future, full power and absolute right to buy 



5s History of Old Cumkock. 

and sell in the same burgh wine, wax, pitch and bitumen, woollen 
and linen cloth, both broad and narrow, wool, skins, oxhides, 
salt, butter, cheese, and all other kinds of merchandise, together 
with power and liberty to possess and keep in the said buigh 
bakers, braziers, tanners, butchers, sellers of flesh and fish, and 
all other tradesmen belonging to the liberty of a burgh in 
barony. 

" We have also granted that in the said burgh there shall be 
free burgesses, and that the same shall have power in all future 
time to elect annually bailies and all other officers, needful for 
the government of the said burgh, and that the said bailies and 
officers shall be elected with the consent of the baron of Cumnock 
for the time being, and that no officers shall be elected without 
the approval of the baron, and that the persons chosen as bailies 
of the said burgh shall reside within the same ; with power to 
the burgesses and inhabitants within the said burgh to have and 
maintain within the same, perpetually, a market cross and a 
market on the Saturday of each week, as well as an annual public 
fair on the day of St. Matthew the apostle and evangelist, and 
for eight days thereafter, with right to uplift dues, along with 
all other privileges which belong to public fairs or may justly be 
regarded as belonging to them at any time hereafter. 

"And with power and liberty to our beloved clerg3rman, 
Master Thomas Campbell, canon of Glasgow and prebendary of 
the said church of Cumnock, and to his successors, to feu the 
aforesaid glebe lands, in whole or in part, in burgh roods for 
building purposes, in such a way as shall be for the profit of the 
said church and its prebendaries, or at least without loss to the 



The Babons of Cumnock. 58 

church, provided the consent of the said baron for the time being 
be obtained. 

^^ The lands of the said church to be held and possessed, as is 
here set forth, for ever, with all the privileges, liberties, and 
advantages written above, together with all other benefits, titles, 
and rights which pertain to a free burgh in barony or may justly 
be regarded as pertaining thereto in the future, and that as freely 
as any burgh in barony is given in fief within our kingdom by 
ourselves or our predecessors without any impediment or revoca- 
tion whatever. 

^^ Saving, however, and reserving to the said James and his 
heirs, the barons of Cumnock, their own liberty and their right 
to hold a court within their bai-ony of Cumnock, together with 
the privilege of blood and bloodwite in the same court over the 
inhabitants of the said glebe, to be enjoyed, used, and exercised 
by them and their bailies in the future according to the tenor of 
their infeofment, ancient usage, and general custom. 

" In testimony whereof we have ordered to be a£Bxed to our 
present charter our great seal in the presence of the following 
witnesses ... at Edinburgh, the S7th September, 1509, 
and the twenty-second year of our reign.'' 

The erection of Cumnock into a burgh of barony in terms of 
this charter was certainly a boon to the community. The people 
became in a measui*e self-governing, though the baron^s authority 
over them continued to be very real. The permission to build 
on the church lands, as distinct from the glebe, was evidently 
taken advantage of. The limits of these lands cannot now be 



64 History of Old Cumnoci. 

determined. One thing only is clear. Whoerer possesses them, 
it is not the church that holds them. 

It will be noticed that there is no reference in the charter to 
St. Convall^s day, though it was a usual arrangement to make the 
annual fair of a district fall on the day of the patron saint of the 
parish in which it was held. The Cumnock fair, however, was to 
last for eight days, so that, while it began on the day of St. 
Matthew, it closed on the day of St. Convall. St Matthew's 
day was the 21st September, and St. Convall's the 28th of the 
same month. 



Cumnock and the Struggle for Freedom. 56 



CHAPTER m. 



Cumnock and the Struggle for Freedom in Scotland. 



« 



Well BiDg anld Coila's plains and fells, 
Her moors red-brown wi* heather-bells, 
Her banks an' braes, her dens an* dells. 

Where glorious Wallace 
Aft bare the gree, as story tells, 

Frae southron billies.** — Bunu, 



Though Ajrrshire is intimately connected with the early achieve- 
ments of Sir William Wallace, the Grovemor and Guardian of 
Scotland, Cumnock does not figure largely in the history of his 
exploits. It was more in the vicinity of the county town that he 
played havoc with his English foes. Our parish in all probability 
furnished him with some valiant fighting men, who served him 
well in his encounters with the oppressor. From the neighbour- 
ing parish of Auchinleck came a zealous comrade in the person 
of Nicol de Achethlec (Auchinleck), who, according to Blind 
Harry, was related to Wallace. It can hardly be supposed that 
our parish fell behind Auchinleck, and failed to contribute its 
contingent of men to swell the patriotic army of Wallace. One 
reference to Cumnock Blind Harry makes in narrating the deeds 
of his hero. He is speaking of the meeting between Wallace 
and Edward Bruce, brother of Scotland's future king, and of the 
arrangement entei-ed into with Edward, by which he was to 
assume the crown if Robert did not claim it. Blind Harry is not 



56 HunoRY OF Old Cumnock. 

an accurate historian, but there is no reason to doubt him when 
he says tliat Wallace really visited our district. Here are his 
words : — 

*' But a short time to bide Robert the King, 
If he came not into this region to reign, 
That Edward should receive the crown but faill ; 
Thus heght Wallace and all the bamage haill. 
In Lochmaben Prince Edward lived still, 
And Wallace past in Cumnock with blyth will 
At the Black Hock, where he was wont to be. 
Upon that stead a royal house held he." 

Black Rock, where he was in the habit of staying, is clearly 
the castle of Black Craig in New Cumnock, the local name of the 
fortress, which in all the old records is called the castle of Cum- 
nock. As long as this place continued to be his headquarters, 
Wallace would move about in different directions to make him- 
self acquainted with the countiy and the people. Cumnock, 
therefore, would have frequent opportunities of seeing the brave 
assertor of Scotland's liberty. 

Tradition gives the name of Wallace's Cave to a small rock- 
shelter in Cubs' Glen. Six centuries ago this spot must have 
been very secluded and may easily have afforded a place of safe 
retreat. But it is impossible to say at what time the name was 
given to it, or how much truth lies in its association with 
Wallace. 

The Itinerary of Edward I., under the year 1298, gives us 
another reference to Cumnock in the days of Wallace^ It states 
that the English king departed from Ayr on the 1st September, 
and passed through Cumnock and Sanquhar on his way to 
Carlisle. By that time, however, the power of Wallace had been 



Cumnock and the Struggle for Freedom. 57 

broken. Six weeks earlier there had been fought the disastrous 
battle of Falkirk, which left Edward the master of the situation. 
After his victory he visited Ayrshire and the south-west of Scot- 
land, in order to reduce to his authority all the important 
strongholds which still opposed him. It was in connection with 
this expedition that the English King marched with his army 
through our parish. 

With Robert Bruce Cumnock has a much closer connection 
than it has with Wallace. As Earl of Carrick, Bruce held estates 
in the county of Ayr, within the mountain fastnesses of which he 
often found a sure retreat. His early days were spent in Carrick, 
to the Earldom of which he succeeded at the age of sixteen, on 
the death of his mother. Naturally the men of Carrick rallied 
round their chief, but the ardour with which they espoused his 
cause was equalled by that of the men of Kyle and Cunningham. 
It was Ayrshire which Bruce freed first from the power of the 
southern foe, by his victory over the Earl of Pembroke at Loudon 
Hill in 1807. 

A little while before this battle, which paved the way for the 
deliverance of the whole of Scotland, Bruce was at Cumnock, 
where he was joined by the good Lord James of Douglas, who 
hurried from Lanai*kshire to his help. Barbour, the Archdeacon 
of Aberdeen, who doubtless got his information from men who 
had served with Bruce, thus describes the circumstances in which 
the king and his trusty follower met : — 

*' When Thirwall apon this manner 
Had iflsaed, as I tell yon here, 
James of Dowglaa and aU his men 
Busked them altogether then. 



58 History of Old Cumnock. 

And went their way toward the king 

In great hy, for they heard tiding 

That of Vallance Sir Amery, 

With a very great chevalry, 

Both of Sooti and ale Englishmen, 

"With great fel'ny, were ready then 

Auembled for to aeek the king, 

That was at that time with his gath'ring 

In Cnmnock, where it straiteat was. 

Thither then went James of Dowglas, 

And was right welcome to the king." (p. 125). 

We are not able to point to ^^ Cumnock, where it straitest 
was,^ but very possibly it is to be found in the higher part of 
New Cumnock, either up the Afton or in the valley of the Nith. 

Immediately after Douglas joined Bruce, there took place 
that well-known incident in which the king was in great peril 
and nearly lost his life through the bloodhound which had for- 
merly been his pet. A similar incident occurred in Galloway, 
near Loch Ryan, but Barbour locates this scene too accurately 
to allow us to doubt that it happened in our neighbourhood. 
John of Lorn, with 800 Highlanders, was in pursuit of Bruce, 
who in order to escape divided his men into three companies. 
Thereupon Lorn let loose the bloodhound which he had brought 
with him. With unerring instinct it tracked the steps of its 
former master. At once Robert bade his followers disperse, 
while he, accompanied only by his foster-brother, endeavoured to 
elude purauit. Still the too faithful hound came on, when 
Bruce, exhausted by the flight, yet ever full of resource, said to 
his comrade, ^^ I have heard that whosoever will wade the length 
of a bowshot down a running stream will make a sleuthhound 
lose the scent. Let us tiy if it will do so now.^ The attempt 



Cumnock and the Struggle for Freedom. 59 

was made, and was rewarded with success. Lorn gave up the 
chase. 

In another account of the escape of Bruce on this occasion, 
the details are differently given. Barbour also is the narrator. 
An archer, who had kept near the king in his flight, perceiving 
they would finally be taken, stole into a thicket and despatched 
the hound with an arrow. ^ But,^ says the archdeacon, ** in 
which way his escape happened, I am uncertain; but at that 
brook the king escaped from his pursuers.*" We cannot identify 
the stream at which the scent was lost. It is only certain that 
Cumnock was the scene of the incident 

Bruce, however, was by no means out of danger, for Barbour 
thus goes on to make a final reference to him in our neighbour- 
hood: — 

** Tlie Warder Umq Sir Aymery, 
With this John in hia company 
And othera of good renown alaa» 
Thomaa Bandal waa one of thaa. 
Game to Cumnock to aeek the king, 
Tliat waa weU ware of their coming 
And waa vp in the atrengthia then. 
And with him fonr hondred men. 
Hia brother that time with him waa, 
And alao Sir Jamea of Dowglaa." (p. 126). 

The ^ strengthis ^ means the ** hills.^ John who is mentioned 
is John of Lorn, and Thomas Randal is Randolph, the future 
Earl of Moray, who, though the nephew of Bruce and afterwards 
one of his most courageous supporters, was at this time in the 
ranks of his enemies. 

Another allusion to our parish is to be met with ere the war, 
waged by Bruce for the independence of Scotland, was brought 



60 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

to a close by the great victory of Bannockbum. Edward I., 
" The Hammer of the Scottish Nation,'' as the inscription runs 
on his tomb in Westminster Abbey, was succeeded in 1307 by 
his son, Edward II., a weak prince, whose magnificent army, 
composed of the flower of the English chivalry, Bruce was to 
hammer to pieces seven years later. The new king, utterly 
unlike his father in capacity and energy, signalised his accession 
to the throne by a leisurely march with his army into the south 
of Scotland. He advanced as far as the Castle of Cumnock, 
where he remained from the 6th to the 28th August, 1307. 
Having appointed the Earl of Pembroke governor of Scotland, 
he retraced his steps without having accomplished any act of 
importance. We can easily imagine how the heart of Bruce 
swelled with hope as he watched the English king and saw his 
matchless inactivity. It may be that the first time he felt himself 
thoroughly able to achieve his mighty task, was when from some 
vantage ground on one or other of the siurounding hills, he 
looked down upon the doings of Edward II., and thanked God 
that the stem grit of the father had not passed into the son. 

Certain old English documents bearing on the invasion of 
Scotland by the second Edward contain a few references of local 
interest Thus under date 16th May, 1307, we find that " W. 
Bishop of Coventry, treasurer (to the king), commands Sir James 
de Dalileye to pay the wages of the garrison of the Castle of 
Cumnok.'' Three days later we read that " a tonel of wine and 
ten qrs. of wheat and flour are ordered to store the Castle of 
Cumnok.*" On the 20th of the same month it is stated that 
^^ John de Drokensford, guardian of the wardrobe, commands 



Cumnock and the Stbuggls fob Freedom. 61 

James de Dalileye or his lieutenant at Dumfries, to give such 
victuals as they require to Sir William de Feltone and the others 
who are about to go to the Castle of Cumnok**^ (Cal. of Documents 
relating to Scotland^ vol. II.). And three days afterwards an 
anonymous writer reports the return of the Bishop of Chester to 
Carlisle from Ayr and other fortresses in that quarter, which he 
had been sent to furnish with provisions. He adds that the king 
was so greatly pleased with the Bishop'^s account that he kissed 
him, ** especially for his borrowing the Castle of Comenogh, Ijring 
between Lanark and Ayr, from its owner. Earl Patrick for a term, 
and garrisoning it with thirty men at arms.*" 

Cumnock accordingly had a fairly close connection with Bruce, 
quite sufficient to keep the people in sympathetic touch with him 
as he sought to carry out his great purpose. 

An incident which took place in the year 1353, in the reign of 
Bruce^s son, David II., has a general historical interest. Its local 
colouring makes it specially interesting to us. Major, in his 
History of Greater Britain tells the story thus : — ^^ After the de- 
parture of the English King (Edward III.), the Lord William 
Douglas gathered together all who owed allegiance to him, and 
marched into Galloway where, in part by the sword and in part 
by persuasion, he gained over all the men of that part to the side 
of David Bruce. Then Donald MacDowel swore fealty to the 
King in Cumnock church, and Roger Kirkpatrick brought the 
whole land of Nithsdale to do the like."" (p. 299.) Wyntoun in 
his CronykiU of Scotland gives us a poetical version of the same 
scene, though he calls Donald MacDowel by the name of Dugald. 



6S History of Old Cumnock. 

Willame, the Lord than of Dou^Lu, 
That willfall and all beay was 
Till bring till [the] Scottis fay 
Landis that lang had been away, 
Oaddryd him a gret menyh^ ; 
And in till Galloway with thai pait he. 
And with Schyr Dowgald Makdowle 
Swa tretyd [he] that in a qwhylle 
He browcht the landia off Gallway 
All hale till Scottis [mennys] fay. 
And till Cnmnoky's Kirk browcht he 
This Schyr Dowgald to mak fewtd 
To the Wardane : and Galloway 
Fra thineforth held the Scottis fay. 

{BookviU,, Cap. 4^,) 

When this incident took place, David 11. was a prisoner in 
England. Seven years before, he had been defeated and captured 
at the battle of Neville's Cross. His supporters, ably led by Lord 
William Douglas, maintained his right to the crown. The War- 
den at the time was David^s nephew, Robert, who afterwards 
ascended the throne. The story is told by Major and Wyntoun 
in too circumstantial a way to make us doubt that the Warden 
was present in person to receive the allegiance of MacDowel. 
But no other details have reached us regarding the %isit of the 
Scottish Regent to our church and town. 



Before the Reformation. 63 



CHAPTER IV. 

Before the Reformation. 

" No Italian priest 
Shall tithe or toll in oar dominion." 

— Shaketpere, 

The early ecclesiastical history of Cumnock is meagre. Few 
facts regarding it are to be extracted from the old records. 
Those, however, which are to be found are not without interest 

We cannot tell when the first church was built in the parish, 
but it is certain that a properly organized church existed before 
1S75, for in that year mention is made of a tax of £16 being 
laid upon the Rectory of Cmnnock. (Reg. Epis. Glasg.). This 
tax was a payment to Bagimond'^s Roll. Bagimond played an 
important part in the affairs of Scotland at the close of the thir- 
teenth centiuy in the interests of the Pope. A brief statement 
about him and the Roll, which goes by his name, will help us to 
understand the tax which the rector of Cmnnock had to pay out 
of his stipend. 

For the purpose of carrying on the crusade against the Sara- 
cens on which he had entered, Pope Innocent IV. required the 
aid of the powerful princes of the time. In 1264 Henry III. of 
England joined the crusade, on condition of receiving a twentieth 
part of the ecclesiastical revenues of Scotland. In 1268 Pope 
Clement IV. renewed the grant and increased it to a tenth. The 



64 HirroBY of Old CuBfNocK. 



clergy and people of Scotland objected to pay tribute of this 
kind to their English foe, and strenuously resisted the attempt 
of Henry to levy the tax. They appealed to Rome without 
obtaining redress. The English army was ah-eady on its way to 
Palestine, and the money fell to be paid to the coffers of the 
English king. Accordingly, the Pope sent a deputy to Scotland 
to collect the tithes. This deputy was an Italian, Baiamund de 
Vicci by name, better known among us as Bagimond or Bagi- 
mund. 

The clergy protested and sent the emissary back to Rome. 
Clement would not move from his position. Bull after Bull was 
despatched to bring the clergy and people to obedience. Naturally 
the Pope won in the struggle, and Henry got the tenth part of 
the revenues of the Scottish Church. 

Now, it will be easily seen that this temporary claim to a por- 
tion of the ecclesiastical income of Scotland was calculated to 
give rise to a settled belief in the minds of the English kings, 
that they possessed a certain sovereignty over Scotland in other 
matters as well as ecclesiastical. In accordance with this belief 
they began to act. So much was this the case, that it may be 
safely said that the unjust levy made upon our country at this 
tiA) and the attitude taken up by the kings of England with 
regard to it, were the initial means of rousing the Scottish nation 
to fight for its liberties, until Bruce at Bannockbum, half a cen- 
tury later, emancipated Scotland from the yoke of the southern 
oppressor. Thab, at any rate, is the story of Bagimond's Roll. 
The visit of the Italian legate to Scotleuid resulted, as far as our 
parish is concerned, in the payment by the rector of Cimmock of 



Before the Reformation. 65 

the annual sum of £16 Scots, one tenth part of the whole 
ecclesiastical revenue of the parish. That money helped to fur- 
nish Henry'*8 contingent of troops, which joined the crusade of 
Pope Innocent IV. in 1S54. 

The first payment seems to have been made in 1276. Doubt- 
less it was hard for the rector of Cumnock to give up such a large 
portion of his income, in order to let Henry have the glory of 
taking part in the crusade, yet we are glad to have a reference 
even of this kind to the church of Ciunnock as far back as the 
closing quarter of the thirteenth century. It makes it perfectly 
dear that, more than 600 years ago, there was a church here with 
revenues attached to it, and that it was served by a rector, whose 
duty it was either personally or by deputy to celebrate the rites 
of religion in Cumnock parish. Though we cannot definitely say 
that the building, in which the services of the church were per- 
formed at that distant time, stood on the site of the present 
Established Church, it is practically certain that the earliest 
parish church was erected on that spot. Nor must it be imagined 
that no church existed in Cumnock previous to 1275. That is 
only the earliest date at which we have documentary evidence on 
the point. 

Even in those far oiF times patronage asserted itself. 9he 
right to present the successive rectors to the church of Cumnock 
was held by the proprietors of the barony of Cumnock, whose 
story is told in its proper place. The first patrons of whom we 
read were the Earls of March. It is enough, however, to say just 
now that in the fifteenth century, the rectory of Cumnock was 
converted into a prebend of the cathedral of Glasgow with the 

E 



66 History of Old Cumnock. 

« 
consent of the patron, who continued to hold the patronage of 
the rectory and prebend. After this conversion, the rector in his 
capacity of prebendary or canon of Glasgow, lived for the most 
part away from Cumnock, putting a vicar in his place, to whom he 
gave a fixed stipend, while he drew the remainder of the church 
revenues for himself. These revenues came in part from the 
church lands. The contributions of the people furnished a certain 
proportion as well. An early document tells us that there be- 
longed to the church of Cumnock "lands, extending to two 
merk lands of old extent.'' On this groimd part of the town 
must now stand. 

In illustration of the arrangement just mentioned, we find that 
Sir Arthur Care (Kerr ?) is entered in 1510 as vicar of Cumnock 
(Protocol Dioces. Glas,^ Vol. II., p. 867). At that time, there- 
fore, the rector was residing in Glasgow, as canon of the cathedral. 
Sometimes, however, when duty, or perhaps inclination, did not 
lead him to live in Glasgow, he resided here and discharged the 
parochial services in person. This was the case in 1601. In a 
record entitled The Visitatioii of the Chapter of Glasgow^ occurs 
the following entry: — Cumnoch non facit residentiam {Reg. 
Episcop. Glas.y Vol. II., p. 611). Evidently this implies that the 
rector of Cumnock, as canon of Glasgow, did not make his 
ordinary residence at the time indicated in the cathedral city. 
He may have been inclined to stay here from the fact that he 
had no manse devoted to his use in Glasgow. There were 32 
prebendaries in connection with the cathedral. Twenty-seven 
had manses. Of the 6 who had no manse, the prebendary of 
Cumnock was one {Regality Clvby Srd SerieSy Pt. II., p. 60). 



Before the Reformation. 67 

At times, too, the canons of Glasgow seem to have preferred 
to remain in their country parishes rather than fulfil their term 
of office in the cathedral. Distance and the difficulties and 
dangers of travelling might be their excuse. In order to meet 
such an emergency, Bishop John de Cheyam made an ordinance 
in 1266 directing the canons of Glasgow to appoint substitutes 
to take their places when they were not in residence at the cathe- 
dral. These substitutes were called Vicars of the Choir or Stallers 
(lb. p. 68). 

Of the Pre-Reformation clergy in Cumnock the names of only 
a very few can be given. Mention has been made already of Sir 
Andrew Care. In the charter given to the burgh in 1609 by 
James IV., Sir Thomas Campbell is spoken of as rector of Cum- 
nock. In all probability Sir Andrew Ciu:^ was his vicar. The 
names of other two at a still earlier period occur in TTie Calendar 
of Papal Registers^ under date 1416. The extract is as follows: — 
" David Hamilton, deacon of the diocese of St. Andrews. M. A. 
He had collation of the Ch. of Cannok, value £20 old sterling, 
of lay patronage in the diocese of Glasgow, when a deacon, on 
the voidance by the death of George Dunbar, and held it for four 
years before being ordained priest, and now prays for rehabilita- 
tion and provision anew *" (I., p. 605). This petition was granted 
by the Anti-Pope of the time, Benedict XIII. 

In 1554 George Dunbar appears as "persoune*" of Cumnock, 
and John Dunbar, the first Protestant minister of the parish, we 
have with good reason conjectured to have been the last Roman 
Catholic priest as well. 

From its connection with Glasgow Cathedral, the church at 



68 History of Old Cumkock. 



Cumnock was naturally called upon to furnish a portion of the 
means by which the services of the cathedral were carried on. 
Hence we find our parish appearing in a list, along with many 
other churches in the diocese, as contributing to the funds of the 
cathedral. The extract itself may be given. The date is 1432, 
in the reign of James I. 

** Statuta de oulta Divino in choro GlasgaensL 
• •.•••. 

Sanquhair ad tres libras, 

Cimok ad tres librae. " 

From this decree it would appear that Sanquhar and Ciunnock 
were both expected to furnish the siun of £S for the cathedral 
worship. The revenues of the parish were also taxed for the sup- 
port of the Bishop of Glasgow. In 1275 we read of a pa3rment 
of .f 16 for that purpose. In the 16th centuiy the tax appears 
as £14i 12s. In all probability this was an annual charge 
(Reff. Epis. Glas.). 

Another reference to the connection between Cumnock and the 
episcopal seat occurs in the reign of James II. William Turn- 
bull, Bishop of Glasgow, and founder of the University, died in 
1554. His successor ordained masses to be said ^' for the soul of 
William Tumbull, our predecessor.*' Masses, however, required 
money, and Cumnock was called upon to pay its share, as may be 
seen from the following clause : — " 10 merks from the prebend of 
Cumnock, given originally for the maintenance of boys minister- 
ing in our said church, to go towards masses for the soul of 
William Tumbull.'' Doubtless these boys were choristers in the 
cathedral, but it was rather hard to take the money destined for 



Before the Rsforbiation. 69 

their use to say masses for the soul of the late bishop. It 
appears, however, that the ten merks were only to be devoted to 
this purpose for four years, by which time we may suppose Turn- 
bull's soul was at rest. 

About two miles south of Cumnock there lies the little farm of 
Chapel or Chapel-house. The name suggests the presence in 
former times of an ecclesiastical building of some kind. Vestiges 
of such a building existed until recently. Both Dr. Miller and 
Mr. Bannatyne, in their notes of the parish, refer to the ruins of 
this chapel, and speak of them as quite visible. All trace of 
them has now practically disappeared. A sculptured stone 
belonging to the old building is to be seen in the present house 
of Chapel. Doubtless others have been built into its walls. 

Very likely the chapel was erected by the laird of Boreland, on 
whose ground it stood, for his own use and that of his retainers. 
Permission was frequently given for the erection of private 
chapels under certain conditions. Care was always taken that 
the parish church should not suffer by services carried on in 
private chapels. In such cases it was usually arranged that 
divine worship was to be conducted by the clergyman of the 
parish, and that the celebration of mass was not to take place 
"on the five festivals of Christmas, The Purification, Pasch, 
Pentecost, and the feast of the dedication of the church, that the 
oblations might not be withdrawn from the parish church" 
(Innes, Early Scottish Hist.^ pp. 14, 15). It is very probable, 
however, that a private chaplain, under the control of the rector, 
served in Boreland Chapel, for certain lands appear to have been 
devoted by the laird for the maintenance of his chaplain. These 



70 History of Old Cumnock. 

lands, in all likelihood at the Reformation, were alienated from 
their religious purpose and let as common ground. For in 1612 
we read that John Campbell of Schankistdh died, having made 
his will immediately before his death. One claase in his will 
runs in this way : — ^^ Item, to John M uir, zoungcr of Hallow- 
chapell, my oy (grandson), ane hundreth mks. money to be payit 
at mertimcs nixt to cum." Tliis entry implies that the lands of 
the old chapel had by that time been put to another use, and 
been let by the proprietor to John Muir, grandson of Campbell 
of Schankiston (Patcrson, XL, p. 349). 

The reference is likewise interesting on account of the fiill 
name that is given to the old religious house. It is called 
Hallow Chapel — a name which shows that it was dedicated to 
"all who had been hallowed,^' i.e.y to "all saints." The 1st of 
November is All Saints' day, and accordingly that day would be 
kept as a high festival in the little chapeL 

The memory and names of the various chaplains who served in 
it have quite disappeared. Tradition states that a small burial- 
place was formed round the chapel. ^ Indications of it have been 
revealed by the plough and the spade. An old blasted tree, 
which still stands without bark or branch, goes by the name of 
the bell-tree. But, of course, it could not have been in existence 
three centuries ago, when the bell of the chapel called the faith- 
ful to pray. The small Episcopal chapel on Glaisnock estate 
preserves the name by which this pre-Refomiation chapel was 
known. It is called " All Saints.'' 



St. Convall, Odk Patron Saint. 71 



CHAPTER V. 
St. ConvdUj our Patron Saint, 

" He learaed with patience, and with meekness tanght." — Barie, 

Like other parishes in our country, Cumnock had a patron saint, 
to whom its church was dedicated. This saint was Convall or 
Conwall by name, the son of an Irish prince, and a brilliant 
ornament of the primitive Church in Scotland. He was a disciple 
of St. Kentigem, who is popularly known as St. Mungo. Wish- 
to leave the island of his birth and come to Scotland, Convall, it 
is said, stood by the seashore upon a stone, which immediately 
became a skiff, in which he was wafted to the river Clyde, where 
he landed near Renfrew, on the banks of the Cart. From its 
connection with the saint, miraculous powers were supposed to be 
attached to it, and in the case both of men and cattle, sickness 
was deemed to be cured by touching it. 

Convall seems to have settled in Inchinnan, in Renfrewshire, 
about seven miles below Glasgow on the Clyde. After his death 
he was looked upon as the patron saint of that parish, where his 
relics were treasured as a most precious possession. The old 
historian, Boece, thus speaks of him in his Chroniklis of Scot- 
land : — " Connall was a discipill of Sanct Mungo, and is buryit 
in Inchinnane, nocht far from Glasquew, quhair he is haldin in 



72 History of Old Cumnock. 

gret veneratioun of pepill '* (Bellenden's Translation^ IX., 17). 
Boece adds a personal note* He says that at Inchinnan 

'* I myaelf hcs been 
In pilgrcmage and his relicqnes hes sene.*' 

(Stewart's VersUm, II., 294). 

Camerariiis, who incorrectly calls him an abbot, represents 
Convall as being honoured by Aidan, King of the Scots, whose 
funeral sermon he was chosen to preach in 605. He is also 
erroneously reported to have been the first archdeacon of Glas- 
gow. Such ecclesiastical dignitaries were not to be found in the 
Scottish Church of the time. Leslie, in his De Origine Scotorvm^ 
says that Convall took occasion on the coronation of Kenneth I., 
" diligently to impress upon the ears and minds of all, the religion • 
of Christ and uprightness of conduct,''* (p. 162) — a reference 
which perhaps indicates that he held some high official position. 
It shows at least that he was a most distinguished churchman. 
Bishop Dalrjinple'^s translation into Scottish of Leslie's Latin 
may be transcribed in full : — 

" S. Conual, S. Mongowe his disciple, Ijrveng the same maner 
of lyfe, obteyned the same name in halynes and prayse, with the 
same fructe, qulia quhen he was present at the burial of King 
Aidan, quhen he was buriet in the lie of Ion, and being at Par- 
leament in Argyle haldne, quhair Kenneth Keir was croA^Tied 
King, conforme to the old maner, he nevir left aff, but evir, 
without entermissione, did publishe the Chrystne and rycht 
Religione with honest and gude maneris, inculcating and dinging 
it in the eiris and myndes of all ^ (I., p. S33). 



St. Convall, Our Pateon Saint. 78 

To this Irish prince, accordingly, who flourished as one of 
Scotland's early saints during the closing portion of the sixth 
century and the first quarter of the seventh, the church of Cum- 
nock was dedicated. No information has reached us to tell why 
the religious authorities of the parish selected Convall to be their 
patron saint. Nor can we say if Convall was ever in our neigh- 
bourhood. We know that he travelled a great deal through the 
south-west of Scotland, and it is possible he may have visited this 
part of Ayrshire. The fact, however, only remains that he was 
chosen to be the patron saint of Cumnock. In proof of this, let 
one clause from an old will, dating from before the Reformation, 
and preserved in the Register of Testaments in the Commissariot 
of Glasgow (Vol. I.), be quoted : — ^* Lego corpus meum sepelien- 
dum in pulveribus S. Convalli de Cumnok," Le.y "I leave my 
body to be buried in the dust of St. Convall of Cumnock ^ 
(Forbes' Kalendars of Scot. Saints). 

Whether Convall, after being adopted by Cmnnock as its 
guardian saint, proved specially helpful to the community, we 
have no means of ascertaining. But evidently he was very 
popular in that capacity, for the people of Ochiltree hearing of 
his fame dedicated their church to him. Pollokshaws, East- 
wood, and Ferrenese, near Paisley, also looked upon him as their 
patron. Near the burial ground at Eastwood, there used to be a 
ruin known as TTie Avid House^ which, with its enclosure, was 
called St. Convall's Dowry. (Moran, Irish Saints^ p. 168). In 
addition he had a chapel dedicated to him in Renfi:«w Church, 
his name being associated in it with those of SS. Andrew and 
Ninian. From TTie Muniments of the Royal Burgh of Irvine 



74 History of Old Cumnock. 

(L, p. 161), we learn that in 1477, William Stoupishill, a burgess 
of Irvine, founded an altar to Convall in the church of his native 
town. Rutherglen likewise had a close connection with our 
patron saint, for in The Excheqtier Rolls of date 1327-1330, we 
are told that David II. of Scotland gave from time to time six 
and eightpence Scots, ** to light the church of St. ConvaU.*" We 
do not know what special interest Bruce^s son had in Convall, but 
it is recorded that King David, in the year 1330, doubled his 
ordinary contribution, and *^ out of his pity ^ gave thirteen and 
fourpence. It is interesting also to know, as Ure tells us in his 
History of RvihergUn (p. 124), that in 1773 two brass or copper 
vessels, " having cut on them the name Congallus or ConvaUus,** 
were discovered while a tumulus of earth was being excavated, 
about half a mile east of the town. Unfortunately no importance 
was attached to the discovery and the vessels were irrecoverably 
lost 

Close, however, though the connection was for long between 
this Irish saint, who loved the Scottish people, and the Churt*h of 
Cumnock — a connection maintained till the Reformation — all 
trace of it has quite disappeared. There is no well known by his 
name, and no spot of any kind, hoiLse or hill or stone, whose 
present name can be regarded as connected with that of our old 
patron saint. Connel Park and Connel Bum in New Cumnock, 
like Connel Bush in Kirkconnel, are doubtless derived, not from 
Convall, but from Connel, the patron saint of Kirkconnel. Let 
us not forget, however, that his name was familiar to the people 
of Cumnock in centuries past, and that when they gatliered on 
Sabbaths and fast days to celebrate their religious rites, they met 



St. Convall, Our Pateon Saint. 76 

in the church of St. Convall, and when they died were buried 
" in the dust of St. Convall.'^ 

The day specially set apart in his honour was the 28th Sep- 
tember. That day accordingly in autumn, usually after the 
harv^est had been reaped, would be held as a high festival by 
young and old, who gathered together from the remotest portions 
of the parish for religious worship and social merrymaking. 
Though September 28th is generally regarded as St. Convall's 
day, it may be noted that Camerarius makes it the 17th May. 
By others it is put on May 18th. His festival at PoUokshaws 
was held on that day. 

The stone, on which according to the legend he came across 
from the Green Isle, is still pointed out close to the banks of the 
Cart, within the policies of Lord Blythswood and just a few yards 
from the main road leading out of Renfrew to Inchinnan. Origi- 
nally it stood in the immediate neighbourhood of Inchinnan 
Church, and in the records of the Biu*gh of Paisley, of date 18th 
June, 1620, it is spoken of as "a grey stane callit St. Conval'^s 
stane." As it is only 3 ft. high and 4 ft long, with a breadth of 
18 inches, it must have formed a very small boat in which to 
bring the saint across the Irish Channel, especially as he seems to 
have had some companions with him. Yet it is remarkable that 
the boulder associated with his name is of grey granite, and is 
the only stone of the kind in the district. 

Streaks of red run along its smooth upper surface. Formerly 
these streaks were accounted for in a peculiar way. The Marquis 
of Argyll on the 18th June, 1685, when fleeing wounded fix)m 
the skirmish at Moordykes, rested on this stone. The blood, 



76 History of Old Cumnock. 

which flowed from his wounds, was alleged to have caused the red 
veins which now appear on it ! From the connection it thus had 
with the Marquis, it has frequently been called Argyll'^s stone. 
In his Journal (Sept 8, 1827), Sir Walter Scott has an interest- 
ing reference to it, which brings out the old Highland attach- 
ment between the men of Argyll and the martjired head of their 
clan. His words are : — ^* Blythswood says the Highland drovers 
break down his fences in order to pay a visit to the place.*" 

Quite close to the boat or currus of St. Convall as it is called, 
lies a large block of sandstone with a cavity on the top, which 
has been regarded as the base of a cross erected in memory of 
Convall. No proof for this is forthcoming. There was, however, 
a cross erected in his honour in Renfrew Church. The papers in 
the charter chest of Mr. John Hall Maxwell tell of such a cross. 
The words are : — ^^ Sub solio crucifixi in boreali parte ecclesifiie 
parochialis de Renfrew.*" It is therefore just possible that the 
block of yellow sandstone, Ijdng beside ConvalPs currus, formed 
the base of the cross which went by his name in Renfrew Church. 

Very probably some of the people of Cumnock went fit)m time 
to time to Inchinnan, for the piupose of visiting the tomb of 
Convall. We know that it was a favourite religious resort up 
tiU the Reformation. Boece's reference makes that certain. 
Devout pilgrims went to secure for themselves, their friends or 
their cattle, the virtues of Convall'^s stone. For the saint was so 
good as not to require a personal visit from, those who needed his 
help. If water was poured over the stone and then gathered and 
carried to distant parts, the same eflects were supposed to follow 
as from a journey direct to his resting-place. Believers in the 



St. Convaxl, Our Patbon Saikt. 77 

saint in Cumnock would not be slow, especially in cases of distress, 
to show their faith by a pilgrimage to Inchinnan. 

In pre-Reformation days Convall was often invoked in the 
ordinary services of the Church. The litm-gy, which was used in 
the old monastery of Dunkeld, contains the following clauses, and 
perhaps the words themselves were chanted in Cumnock on the 
day of the annual festival held in his honom*. 



Sanote Victor, Papa Bomane, 

S. Ninia, 

8. Palladie, 

8. Kentigern, vere Deo (dicte) Mango, 

S. Convall, 

8. Baldred, 



Ora pro nobis. 



The fullest reference to the life and work of Convall is to be 
found in The Legends of St. Kentigem and hie Friends^ translated 
from the Aberdeen Breviary and the ArbtdhnoU Miesalf by Rev. 
Professor William Stevenson. As it not only gives us a very 
complete picture of the old saint, but also lets us see the honour 
in which he was held generally in the Scottish Church, it may be 
quoted in fuU. The alternative form of the name — Conwall — ^is 
used. 

" Of St. Ck>NWALL, 

CONIBSSOB. 

Prayer. Enlighten, O Lord, we beseech thee, our hearts and 
our bodies by the benignant intercession of the blessed Conwall, 
thy Confessor, that with sincere minds we may be able to love 
thee, the true Grod. Through our Lord. 



78 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

Lection I. St. Conwall, eminent in the primitive Church of 
the Scotch for marvellous signs and virtues, was a disciple of St. 
Kentigern. For his father was a king of the Irish and his 
mother was sister to a certain prince there. But, although as the 
future heir of a kingdom he had been bom to a higher prospect, 
yet preferring the free service of Christ, and admonished by an 
angelical oracle, he abandoned his paternal hearth, and by a 
wonderful kind of navigation came as far as Scotland. 

Lection II. For as he stood on the shore, he saw behind him 
an unstable world from which he had escaped, and before him a 
boisterous ocean. Turning to the Lord he prayed, sa}dng, ^^ () 
God, whose right hand lifted up the apostle Peter, that when 
walking on the billows he was not drowned, command me to be 
borne by whatsoever means, to the regions beyond the sea.^ A 
marvellous thing ; — the stone on which the saint was standing, as 
if it had been a light little boat, conveyed the saint safe to the 
bank of the river Clyde, and there staying its course is called the 
carriage of St. Conwall. 

Lection HI. Therefore, by the touch of this same stone or by 
washing with its water, as is daily seen even now, many sick men 
are ciued and cattle besides, with whatever troubles they may 
have been afflicted. Then the saint went roimd the monasteries 
and cloisters, seeking out a suitable man to whom he might sub- 
mit himself, for the purpose of being instructed in the discipline 
of a regular life. For he heard that St. Kentigern, the bishop, 
excelled the rest in sanctity, whereupon going to him he became 
his disciple. 



St. Convall, Our Pateon Saint. 79 

Lection IV. But, lest the distinguished virtues of this blessed 
man should have too slight a hold on the hearts of the faithful, 
we will endeavour on this day'^s solemnity to notice some particu- 
lars. For a certain man who was deprived of the use of his feet, 
and whose feet were so curved as to adhere to his hips, eagerly 
set out from Ireland, whence this blessed man had derived his 
origin, and before an image of him, the poor man persisted 
through three days' vigils, but in the course of the last vigil, the 
blessed Conwall seemed to appear to him in a dream, and touch- 
ing the crooked limbs with his hand, made them sound. But do 
thou. 

Lection V. A certain woman also, who was suffering the 
intolerable torture of calculus, was ciu^d by the intercession of 
the blessed man. A dropsical, moreover, as well as one who was 
almost consumed by worms, who could be cured by no medical 
treatment, were both restored to health by the merits of the 
blessed Conwall. But do thou. 

Lection VL He relieved besides, from their afflictions, persons 
variously diseased, the infirm of all sorts and the blind, who came 
one after another from every quarter on this side and that, seek- 
ing the blessed man devoutly. All likewise who were ill or sick, 
by whatsoever malady they might be distressed, were by no 
means defrauded of their just wishes. And this Conwall is 
worshipped as chief patron at Inchinnan.^ 

It only remains to be noted that certain traditions speak of 
him as an author. Even the titles of his books are given. They 
are three in number : — (1) J Life of St. KerUigem ; (2) Contra 



80 History of Old Cumnock. 

RUus Ethnicorum; (3) Jd Clerum Scoticorum super EccJesiae 
Staiuiis. None of these treatises have come down to us. We 
cannot say positively that they proceeded from his pen. The 
tradition may be without foimdation. 

Such then is the story of Convall. Much has gathered round 
his name which is legendary, and has no foundation in fact. We 
put no faith in the miracles he is said to have wrought, or in the 
marvellous powers attributed to his relics and his tomb. They 
are the growth of an ignorant and superstitious age, to which we 
now look back with mingled feelings of astonishment and pity. 
Yet, when the record of his life is stripped of all its meaningless 
and worthless trappings, there is enough left to let us see, that 
our fathers chose no mean man to whom to dedicate their church 
and parish, when they made Convall the patron saint of Cumnock. 



Thk Ministers of Cu&inock. 81 



CHAPTER VL 



The Ministers of Cumnock from 1660, 



When your Scottish clergy give up their homely mAxmer, religion will soon 
deoay in that conntry. 

— Johnwn to BoswdL 



The Reformation was an accomplished fact in Cumnock, as in 
the rest of Scotland, by the year 1660. The Protestant Church 
at once took the place of the old Romish Church. The priest 
attached himself to the Reformed faith and became the first 
Protestant minister of the parish. His name was 

(1.) John Dunbar. In all probability he was a connection of 
those Dunbars who held the office of baron and acted as patrons 
of the church for more than three centuries. By a strange 
omission Scott, in his elaborate Fcuti^ makes no mention of him 
as our first Protestant pastor, but there can be little doubt from 
the existing evidence, that John Dunbar was the last incumbent 
of Cumnock before the Reformation, and that he adhered to the 
cause of Knox and the Protestant party. The facts on which 
this conclusion rests are quite convincing. 

" About the year 1662,'' we are told in a MS. Rental Book 
quoted by Chalmers in his Caledonia (Vol. iii., p. 622), " Mr. 
John Dunbar, parson of Cumnock, made a return to the reformed 
rulers, that the parsonage and vicarage of Cumnock, which was 



8S History of Old Cumnock. 

held by him, was by common estimation worth 600 marks yearly, 
but that the whole was let on lease by him to Patrick Dmibar, 
fiar of Cumnock, for the payment of £AQ yearly, which was less 
than an eighth part of the real value, and even of this small rent 
he could get no payment, for the two half-yeai's past then re- 
mained impaid. This official return he subscribed thus — Mr. 
John Dunbar, parson of Cumnock, with small profit."" 

From this statement one thing is perfectly clear. John Dun- 
bar had a yearns rent due to him by the time he wTote in 1562. 
He had therefore been acting as minister in 1661, which brings 
us within sight of the actual date of the Reformation. Now we 
can hardly believe that an ordained preacher would be found in 
Cumnock within a few months after the Reformation, unless the 
priest of the parish had embraced the Protestant faith. Various 
reasons combined at the time to keep hundreds of parishes with- 
out a minister. Many of the priests for instance continued to 
hold the old doctrines. Others, who inclined to the reformed 
system of truth, did not care to become " preachers.'^ They had 
not been accustomed to preach and they disliked the work. 
Candidates, too, for the office of the ministry were comparatively 
few in number, and those who presented themselves could not be 
prepared quickly for their work. Even as late as 1596, four 
hundred parishes in Scotland were without Protestant ministers. 
When therefore we come upon a fully qualified preacher in Cum- 
nock in 1661, we are entitled to believe that he had acted 
previously in the parish as Romish priest. On the same ground, 
too, we conclude that there was no delay in beginning the work 
of building up the Protestant Church in our midst. Roman 



The Ministees of Cumnock. 83 

Catholic doctrines ceased to be proclaimed. Protestant services 
were at once commenced. The priest of the time became a con- 
vert to the Reformed faith, and introduced the rites of Presby- 
terianism. 

How long Dunbar served as priest before 1560, there are no 
means of knowing. It could not, however, have been long, for 
the name of George Dunbar appears as *^ parson of the parish^ in 
1664 (Paterson^s History^ II., p. 819). Nor are we able to tell 
how long he continued to act as Protestant pastor after 1660. 
We only know that he ceased to have spiritual charge of Cum- 
nock a good while before 1672. Apparently, however, he was 
not dead by that time, for a reference in the Registrum Magni 
SigiUi tells us that a John Dunbar, ^^ vicar and life-long 
pensioner of the parish church of Cumnock,^ was alive in 1681, 
and received a royal charter at that date confirming him in the 
possession of ^ four acres of cuuble land, with a house and small 
wood (between the lands of the laird of Bromehill, the water of 
Lugar, and the church lands of Cumnock), with pasture for two 
cows and one horse.**^ This Dunbar, described as a vicar and 
pensioner, can only be our first parish minister. Why he ceased 
to serve in the ministry we cannot say. HI health may have laid 
him aside. Nothing would have been more interesting than a 
brief record of the man and his doings, but no such record exists. 
We can only deplore our lack of knowledge, and hold in honour 
the name of John Dunbar on whom, as its human foundation, 
the Protestant church of Cumnock is built. 

On the retirement of Dunbar, a vacancy of some length 
occurred. No settled pastor was appointed till 167S. Cumnock, 



84 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

accordingly, was put under the charge of John Inglis, minister of 
Ochiltree. This arrangement clearly proves that the vacancy was 
of fairly long duration, for Mr. Inglis would not have been 
appointed to the work unless there had been the likelihood of 
Cumnock being without a pastor of its own for a considerable 
period. The hands of the minister of Ochiltree were extremely 
full at the time, for he had the supervision of Auchinleck as well. 
He must, however, have been a very capable man in some 
respects, for he was nominated constant Moderator of Presbytery 
by the Assembly in 1606. Doubtless he tried to the utmost of 
his power, from his manse at Ochiltree, to supply in Cumnock 
the want of a resident minister. But on many Sabbaths there 
would be no regular service here, to the great weakening of the 
reformed cause, for it was quite impossible for Mr. Inglis to serve 
three parishes every Lord'*s day. Still, it may have been the case 
that the very want of a pastor of their own set the people to talk 
more earnestly among themselves about the great change which 
had come over their views, and made them more able to give to 
others a reason for the faith that was now in them. 

At length this interregnum came to an end by the appoint- 
ment of 

(2.) John Rynd (1672-1676), the second Protestant minister 
of Cumnock. Rynd had already seen service elsewhere, for his 
name appeal's as exhorter at Kinglassie, in Fife, in 1669. His 
work in that capacity was to give simple addresses to the people 
on the leading truths of the Bible. A good many exhorters were 
employed at that time in the work of the Church, either to take 
charge of a parish temporarily or to assist the ordained minister. 



The Ministebs of Cumnock. 8S 



From the register of ministers and their stipends, drawn up in 
1567, it appears that there were then about 1080 churches under 
the charge of S57 ministers, 151 exhorters, and 455 readers. 
From the ranks of these exhorters the ministry was largely 
recruited. It was so in Rynd's case ; for, from being exhorter in 
Kinglassie, he came to be minister of Cumnock in November, 
1572. That year was very memorable in the annals of the 
Reformation, for it was the year in which John Knox died. 
Indeed, the news of his death, which took place on the S4th 
November, would still be the great topic of conversation in the 
church of Cumnock for some time after Rynd was ordained. 

The new minister's period of office lasted for about three years. 
It remains a blank page in the history of the parish. No refer- 
ence of any kind to his work exists. For some reason, perhaps 
the smallness of the local revenues of the church, Rynd received 
an addition to his stipend. For we read that he ^^had for 
stipend the haill personage and vicarage of Cumnock extending 
to xl li., and the hfldll chaplainrie of St. Blais in Perth xx li.*" 
The chapel of St Blais in Perth w€is in all probability a private 
chapel, which ceased at the Reformation, and the endowment of 
which w€is used for supplementing the incomes of poor ministers. 
Perhaps Rynd had some connection with Perth. However, he 
did not long enjoy the provision made for him, for he died some 
time before the 22nd May, 1576, on which day his successor, 

(8.) George Campbell (1576-1578), the third minister of 
Cumnock, was inducted to the charge of the parish. For four 
years before he came here, Campbell had been minister of Dun- 
donald. Of him, too, we know absolutely nothing. This only 




86 History of Oij) Cumnock. 

we can say about him. He was presented to the parish by King 
James VI. Now, as the patronage of the church was held by the 
Dunbars, some hitch must have occurred by which the represen- 
tative of the family at the time, Sir Patrick, was prevented from 
exercising his right. This Sir Patrick was the very gentleman 
who defrauded the first minister of Cumnock by withholding his 
dues. If he continued to withhold them, we may see perhaps the 
reason why the King took charge of the presentation on this 
occasion. James, however, was only ten years old at the time. 
The appointment made in his name must have been really 
effected by the Regent Morton. And as Morton did not favour 
Presbyterianism, but supported Episcopacy, Campbell may have 
held views which commended him to the adviser of James. In 
less than two years, however, the church was again vacant, this 
time to be filled by one who continued to labour for a much 
longer period than any of his predecessors. 

(4.) William Hammiltoun (1578-1695), the successor of 
Campbell, was minister in Cumnock for seventeen years. He was 
ordained in 1578. In 1595 he left for the parish of Dairy, in 
Galloway, where he died between 1638 and 1685. He was 
returned five times as a member of Assembly. His son James 
studied for the ministry, and was presented to Bathgate in 1617, 
but he returned home the same year at the request of his father. 
The reason of the request is not stated. The only outstanding 
incident in the ministry of Hammiltoun in Cumnock, of which 
we know, shows his staunch Presbyterianism. In the Register of 
the Privy Council of Scotland for the year 158S, it is reported 
that the right of appointing the Bishop of Glasgow had devolved 



The Ministibs of Cumnock. 87 

into the hands of the king, ^^ because of the neglect in the persons 
representing the Dean and Chapter of Glasgow to elect Mr. 
Robert Montgomery,'' the king's nominee. ** Maister William 
Hammiltoun, persoun of Cumnok," is mentioned as being called 
upon with others to fulfil the royal wishes and refusing to do so. 
To oppose the King's commands was no small matter in those 
days. 

In connection with Hammiltoun and all his reformed predeces- 
sors in our parish, we must remember that the great work they 
had to do was to impress the people with the truths on which 
the Protestant Church was built, and to uproot the errors of 
Roman Catholicism. All the ministers who laboured here, from 
1560 on towards the close of the 16th century, were men who had 
been brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. Hammiltoun, 
indeed, would be a mere child at the date of the Reformation, 
yet even of him it is true that his early days were spent in the 
old unreformed Church. The people, too, who attended their 
ministry had been bom and baptized in that Church. They 
were acquainted with its ceremonies and its teaching. The 
doctrines of Protestantism were new to them. Bibles were few 
in number. Perhaps there were not half-a-dozen in the whole 
parish. It fell, therefore, to the ministers of the Reformed faith 
to expoimd and commend the gospel of Jesus. The difficulty of 
this task in the circumstances we can hardly imagine. Nor is it 
possible for us to award too high a measure of praise to the men 
who set themselves to this work with such earnestness and 
devotion. That they succeeded so well in eradicating the errors 
of Popery from the minds of the people is a testimony at once to 



88 History of Old Cumnock. 

their own grasp of the doctrines of the grace of God in Christ 
and to the preparedness of the people of Cumnock, as of Scotland 
generally, to turn from the formalism and corruption of the 
Roman. Catholic Church to the two fundamental facts of the 
Protestant Church — the sole Mediatorship of the Lord Jesus 
between Grod and man, and the priesthood of all believers in the 
Son, who was sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world. 
Hammiltoun and those who went before him are to be remem- 
bered with honour for their work's sake. 

(6.) George Dunbar (1699-1608). The successor of Hammil- 
toun in the parish is the first of the Reformation ministers of 
whom we have any detailed account. His name, George Dunbar, 
makes it probable that he too was a member of the Dunbar 
family in whom the patronage of the church was vested. As he 
began his ministry only in 1599, there seems to have been a 
vacancy in the pastorate for four years. Dunbar was a member 
of Assembly in 1602, and again in 1605. In 1608 he was trans- 
lated to the first charge in Ayr, where he succeeded John Welsh, 
the son-in-law of Knox, who had been banished from the king^s 
dominions. The call to take the place of Welsh marks Dunbar 
as a man of ability. He had the courage of his convictions as 
well, for he boldly prayed in church for his banished predecessor 
and others in a similar predicament. For this he was removed 
by the Privy Council in October, 1611, and confined to Dum- 
barton. Being allowed to return to Ayr, he was appointed 
minister of the second charge in 1613, and two years later was 
one of 65 ministers who signed a Protestation for the Liberties of 
the Kirk. In 1619 he was transferred once more to the first 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 89 

church in Ajrr. His conduct, however, did not please the 
authorities, for in 162S he was deprived of his charge for not 
conforming to the articles of the Perth Assembly, and ordered to 
be confined in Dumfries. On the intimation of this sentence 
being made to him, he is said to have turned to his wife and 
quietly remarked, ** Margaret, prepare the creels again.*" On the 
occasion of his first compulsory removal from Ayr, some of his 
children were young and required to be taken in creels or panniers 
fastened across a horse^s back. Another account tells us that he 
disobeyed the injunction, whereupon he was declared a rebel, 
put to the horn, and sentenced in 1624 to be sent to Ireland. 
Before the Privy Council on 2Snd September, he intimated that 
^^ he wald acquiess to his majesties will and pleasure.^' At that 
time he was described as ^^ ane discrepit, poore aged man,^ yet he 
went to Ireland and was minister of Inver near Lame for about 
12 years, after which he was permitted to return to Scotland, 
and was appointed to the parish of Calder (Midcalder) in 1638. 
While in Ireland, he was closely associated with several of his 
Presbyterian countrjrmen who, like himself, were exiled. John 
Livingston, under whom the revival at Shotts took place in 16S0, 
was one of them. Robert Blair of St. Andrews was another. An 
interesting incident is told of them. In 1632 they were inhibited 
from preaching, and were deposed for reiiising to conform to 
Episcopacy. They determined to find the freedom denied to 
them at home, by crossing the sea to America. With this end 
in view, Dunbar and his friends built a ship of 115 tons, to which 
the name of Eagie-mnffs was given, and in which they all set 
sail for New England. When more than half way across the 



90 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

Atlantic, they were blown back to the coast of Ireland. Looking 
upon this as an indication from God that they should continue 
in their own country, they made no attempt to cross the sea 
again. Almost immediately afterwards, the sentence of deposition 
was removed by a letter from the Lord Deputy StraflTord. In 
1636 Dunbar returned to Scotland, and after a ministry of three 
years in Calder died in 1641. 

His son Samuel succeeded him in the lands of PoUesche 
(Pollosh) in New Cumnock. Another son, George, died in 1661. 

(6.) James Cunningham (1608-1644). On the removal of 
Dunbar to Ayr, the pastorate was filled by James Cunningham, 
M.A., who was translated from Dunlop, where he had officiated 
for two years. Before that he was minister of Inchcalzeoch. His 
interest in the University of Glasgow, from which he doubtless 
obtained his degree, is shown in a gift of 40 merks, which he 
made in 1682 towards erecting the University Library. 

Cunningham was evidently a man of great ability, for we find 
him appointed along with Thomas Ramsay of Dumfries, to re- 
present the chiurch on the sub-committee of the Tables, formed 
for the purpose of attending to the interests of Presbyterianism 
in all matters bearing on the Reformation from Episcopacy. As 
residence in Edinburgh was necessary for the performance of the 
work to which he was called, he was away from Cumnock for a 
time. His people, however, would be greatly pleased at the 
honour conferred upon their pastor, for on that important com- 
mittee there were just 12 membei^s, and of the 12 Cunningham 
and Ramsay were the only ministers. In the business thus en- 
trusted to him, Mr. Cunningham fulfilled his part with the 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 91 

utmost credit. At a meeting of the 12 commissioners with the 
King^s Council at Dalkeith on the Slst December, 1687, he made 
a wise and powerful speech, in which he called the Council to 
reflect on the danger of opposing the work of God in Scotland, if 
they did not impress upon the King the duty of agreeing to the 
wishes of the Reformers. He concluded his speech in this way: — 
** We have to do with a good and just King, who, we are per- 
suaded, accounts it his honour and happiness to kiss the Son, to 
serve him in fear, and to rejoice with trembling; and we will rest 
assured that from the influence of his bounty and fatherly respect 
to this his ancient kingdom, especially in a matter of this im- 
portance, we shall receive a comfortable answer, by which our 
hearts shall have matter of praise to God's holy name, and en- 
couragement more and more to have our hearty prayers to God 
that his majesty may have many happy days to reign over us ; 
and for your lordships, as the blessings of the land imder whose 
shadow we may live peaceable and quiet lives.**' Stevenson, from 
whose history this extract has been taken (p. 197X adds the 
interesting information that Cunningham'^s speech drew tears 
from several of the coimcillors, and ^^ was the breaking of the 
snare to the Lord of Lom.^ K this was really so, and the speech 
of the minister of Cumnock the means of converting the Lord of 
Lorn to the Presbyterian side, it was memorable in the extreme ; 
for the Lord of Lorn became known afterwards as Archibald, 
Earl of Argyll, who so nobly supported the Reformed cause in 
Scotland, signed the National Covenant at Edinburgh, and was 
present at the Glasgow Assembly of 1638. At the conclusion of 
the conference, the same historian tells us, ^^the Council exhorted 



92 HisTOKT OF Old Cumkock. 

them (the ministers) to instruct the people to be loyal to the 
King, and to think well of hijnri in the matter of religion. To this 
Mr. Cunningham replied, ^ Our consciences and our hearers are 
our witnesses, that we endeavour to carry ourselves well in this 
respect, neither have we ever a thought to the contrary ; but his 
majesty is wronged after the manner that Ahasuerus was wronged 
by Haman, and we are looking to see the Lord'^s righteousness in 
his appointed way.^ This unpremeditated reply was deemed ex- 
tremely clever, and almost prophetical when men remembered 
afterwards the fate which some of the councillors shortly met 
with.'' 

This was the last meeting with the King'^s Council for the time 
being. On the following day, Cunningham left Edinburgh on 
his way back to Cumnock. 

Though no record exists of it in our parish, Cunningham 
would, early in 1638, sign tlie copy of the National Covenant 
which came to tlie district for the purpose, and the people, fired 
with the enthusiasm of their minister for their beloved Church, 
would follow his example in great numliers. ^^ Before the end of 
April,^ historians tell us, ** therv* wore few parishes in Scotland, 
in which the Covenant had not l)Oon signed by nearly all of com- 
petent age and character.^ In (irey friars' Churchyard in Edin- 
burgh some wrote their names in bUKKl dmwn from the opened 
vein. Tliough ordinary ink wouUl In? usetl in Cumnock, the 
devout camestneiw and resolution wiUi which the people signed 
it, would augur well for tJieir loyalty and the loyalty of their 
children, when the darker dnyn of [wwecutiou drew near. 

Before the great Asstmbly of 1038« which was to meet in 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 93 

Glasgow for business of the gravest importance, it was universally 
felt in the Church that no more fitting occupant of the chair 
could be foimd than Alexander Henderson. There were a good 
many, however, who feared that Henderson'*s position as modera- 
tor would, by the rules of the Assembly, prevent him from 
entering the lists in debate against certain powerful supporters 
of Episcopacy. The names of some others, able to take the 
chair if necessary, were freely mentioned. Among those thus 
spoken of was Cimningham, who in this way was neai'er the 
highest honour the Church is able to confer, than any other 
minister of Cumnock before or since. The fact that he should 
have been mentioned as a likely moderator on that memorable 
occasion is another proof of the eminent position he had reached, 
and of his outstanding abilities. 

Towards the end of the Assembly Cunningham introduced a 
personal matter, which would hardly be allowed to be brought 
now under the notice of the Supreme Court. As Baillie tells the 
story too, it brings him before us in a slightly different aspect 
fix>m that in which he has already appeared. Let the story be 
told in BaiUie^s words : — " Mr. James Cunningham, wearying of 
his patron my Lord Dumfries, his injuries, and not able to 
undergo his wonted labours in his spacious paroche, required 
liberty to transport when he might have occasion; this was 
granted; but to his small profit. It was thought he was 
furthered to make this motion, by his hopes to obtain the more 
large paroche, but more profitable, of Paisley or Hamilton, and 
readily he might have been made welcome to either, but his too 
ardent desire to be at them and from his own people, has made 



94 HiflTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

his own to disgust him and these to have no great feast of him ^ 
(Baillie^s Letters^ vol. I., p. 166). What moved Baillie to write 
in these terms of Cunningham, it is not easy to say. ** My Lord 
Dumfries '' may have been acting somewhat harshly towards the 
incumbent, who liad occupied the charge for 30 years ; but if the 
statement be correct, Cunningham, who seemingly alienated the 
affections of his own people, and failed to ingratiate himself with 
congregations elsewhere, stands forth as a warning to all ministers 
who, eager to be translated to other charges, lose the good-will 
of their people at home. 

Four years later, however, he secured the call to Hamilton, and 
was loosed fix>m the pastorate at Cumnock, but for some reason 
he never went to his new charge. The Presb3rtery records cure 
quite clear on that point. They tell us that the Presbytery met 
at Cumnock on May 19th, 1642, when "the kirk was foimd 
vacand and wanting a minister by reasoun of the transportatioun 
of Mr. James Cunningham, last minister there, to the kirk of 
Hamiltoun, where he is presentlie minister.'^ Yet Cunningham 
continued to reside in Cumnock, and did not go to Hamilton. 
At this very meeting of Presbytery which declared the church 
vacant, he was present and gave information regarding the state 
of the church, the manse and the glebe ; and whenever the 
minutes mention his name, they speak of him as the " last minis- 
ter of Cumnock.*" Why he did not go to Hamilton we are not 
told. All that can be further gathered about him is that he 
remained here, and is supposed to have died in 1644, at the age 
of sixty-three, and in the 41st year of his ministry. 

At this meeting of Presbytery, which declared the church 



The Ministers of Cumkock. 95 



vacant in May 164S, a remarkable petition signed by a number 
of ladies was presented. It shows the interest the subscribers 
took in obtaining a suitable successor to Mr. Cimningham. The 
official record referring to the document runs in this way : — 

" This day a supplication was presented before the presbiterie 
by a number of honest women of the parochen of Cumnok, sub- 
scrybit by twentie four hands, q'by they eamestlie desyred the 
presbiterie for simdrie grave reasons thairin contained, to be 
cairfull for the speedie plantation of the kirk of Cumnok with a 
sufficient ministerie, not onlie qualified with learning for publick 
preaching, but also with gravitie, authoritie and holiness, for 
curbing of the Insolencies of the ruder sort, and for going before 
them in a good exemple of holie lyfe and godlie conversation, 
and that his calling to that charge sud be with the assent of 
parocheners, q^ supplication was read and considered by the 
presbiterie.'*' 

Whether the 24 " honest women ^ got the desire of their heart 
we cannot say, but the seventh minister of Cumnock, 

(7.) John Halkeid (1644-1646), was duly ordained on the 6th 
August, 1644, having graduated M.A. at St. Andrews in 1638. 
He was presented to the parish by James Crichton of Aber- 
crombie, the Baron of Cumnock at the time. The only thing 
we know about his ministry is its shortness. In less than two 
years he died, at the age of 28. Perhaps the woric of " curbing 
the insolencies of the ruder sorf proved too much for his 
strength. 

(8.) John Cunynghame or Cunningham (1647-1668). The 
vacancy caused by the early death of Halkeid was filled in 1647 



96 History of Old Cumkock. 

by the appointment of John Cunynghame. The patron was the 
same as in the previous case, though it is added in the documents 
that James Crichton of Abercrombie presented John Cunynghame 
to the parish, with the advice of William, Earl of Dumfries. 
The new minister was ordained on the 8th September, 1647. In 
1662 he refused to conform to Episcopacy, and was confined to 
the parish. In October, 1668, he died, after a ministry of SI 
years. He was the proprietor of the little estate of Blook or 
Bloak in the parish of Stewarton. His wife, who survived him 
for nine years, was Elizabeth Cunynghame. They had one son and 
one daughter. The daughter married Greorge Logan, a member 
of the Logan family. Alexander, the son, became famous in 
after days as a critic and scholar, and also as the first Professor 
of Civil Law in the University of Edinburgh. His career is 
sketched in its proper place among the eminent men our parish 
has produced. 

(9.) Samuel Nimmo (1673-1686). The exact date of the 
admission of Samuel Nimmo to the church of Cumnock cannot be 
ascertained. AH that can be said is that he was already minister 
on the S6th April, 1673. Apparently there was a considerable 
interval between tlie death of Cunynghame and Nimmo's appoint- 
ment, ^rhc struggle between Episcopacy and Presbyterianism 
was becoming very critical, and the people of Scotland showed 
great opposition to the intrusion among them by the patrons of 
any minister of KpiscoiMil tendencies. Nimmo was inclined 
towards Episco|MU*y even at the beginning of his career. The 
unwillingncHN of the |)iu'iNhionerM to have him settled over them is 
sufficient to explain the vai!ancy of four or five years. The 



TU£ MiNISTEKS OF CuMKOCK. 97 

patron came off victorious, however, and Nimmo was ordained 
minister. 

Some of the people, nevertheless, objected so strenuously to his 
ordination, that they refused to have their children baptized by 
him. Wodrow tells the story in his History (III., p. 387). 
^ This same year (1682)," he says, « the Earl of Dumifries 
charged all persons in the parishes of Auchinleck and Cumnock 
to appear before him, and fined all who had baptized children 
with any other than the incumbent in fifty pounds each, poind- 
ing and driving their cattle and goods till they paid it. My 
information bears that Andrew Pathen, in the parish of Auchin- 
leck, was forced to pay his fifty pounds because he kept his child 
unbaptized six weeks, though afterwards he carried it to the 
incumbent Another in the same parish, Henry Stopton, was 
fined sixty pounds because he refused to tell who baptized his 
child.^ Though Wodrow gives no particulars of Cimmock, his 
words show that similar fines were inflicted here. 

After having been settled in Cumnock for fifteen years, Nimmo 
was translated to Colinton in Midlothian. There his love for 
Episcopacy attracted the notice of the Presbyterian leaders. He 
was accused of not having read fix>m the pulpit the Proclamation 
of the Estates, of refusing to pray for King William and Queen 
Mary, and of praying for the late King James. He was 
acquitted, however, by the Privy Council on the SSnd August, 
1689. Soon after he was ^* hindered to preach by some of the 
Earl of Argyle'*s Regiment,^' and finally deposed by the Commis- 
sion of the Greneral Assembly in January, 1691, for declining to 
submit to their authority. He died in June, 1717, aged about 



98 HisToaY OF Old Cumnock. 

seventy-four. His wife was Isobel, the daughter of Thomas 
Halyburton, cordiner, Edinburgh. They had one son, William, 
who died m 1698. 

Reference is made to Mr. Nimmo in the session records of 1718, 
twenty-seven years after he left Cumnock. During his ministry 
a sum of 700 merks, belonging to the poor, had been given on 
loan to Lord Charles Crichton. The Session now wished the sum 
repaid. The bond, however, had been drawn up in the name of 
Mr. Nimmo, with whom it was therefore necessary to commimi- 
cate. At once he fell in with the proposal of the Session that 
he should assign the bond to them. The assignation was duly 
completed and registered in the books of the Regality Court of 
Cumnock. But the interestuig thing is that the Session never 
speak of Mr. Nimmo as formerly minister of the parish, but as 
late Episcopal minister at Coldingtoun (Colinton). Perhaps 
their statement implies that when he ceased to have connection 
with the Presbyterian Chiurch at Colinton, he conducted services 
after the Episcopal form. 

(10.) Francis Fordyce (1686 (?)-1688). On the removal of 
Samuel Nimmo to Midlothian, the pulpit was filled by the 
appointment of Francis Fordyce, M.A., of the University of 
Aberdeen. Whether he was settled in the year Nimmo left, or 
not till 1687, is not known. In any case, his ministry did not 
last more than two years. He was even more pronounced in his 
Episcopal tendencies than his predecessor. On that account he 
proved himself most obnoxious to the people. The year of the 
Revolution, however, put a stop to his doings. The method 
adopted was not of the gentlest kind. A band of ninety armed 



The MiNisTEBfi of Cumnock. 99 

men forced him into the churchyard, forbade him to preach, and 
tore his gown. If this was not done during public worship, it 
must have taken place immediately before or after church 
service. 

The indignity to which he was thus subjected was made in 
later years, by the supporters of Episcopacy, the occasion of 
bringing the charge of persecution against the Presbyterians. To 
us it seems strange that persons, who shot our forefathers in cold 
blood and even while they knelt in prayer, should find fault with 
those who, somewhat roughly it may be, ejected from office one 
who was put into the ministry against their wish, and who con- 
ducted the services of Grod's house in a way that they believed to 
be opposed to the will of God. Fordyce's treatment was held up 
to opprobrium in a little Episcopalian pamphlet published at the 
time, and entitled, The Ccue of the Afflicted Clergy of Scotland. 
Principal Rule of Edinburgh University answered this charge in 
1691, in his Second Vindication of the Church of Scotland. He 
tells us, for instance, that it was not the parishioners of Cumnock 
who ejected Fordyce. The men who really forced him out of the 
church were Cameronians, who came from other districts, and 
were in arms at the time against the Government 

It is not needful for us, of course, to defend eveiy act that was 
done in those eventful years preceding the Revolution by men 
who were struggling for liberty of conscience and for their G<xi- 
given rights against a powerful oppressor. We can only say that 
if the position had been reversed, and Fordyce been a Covenanter, 
while the armed men were dragoons under Douglas or Claver- 
house, the minister of Cumnock would have had short shrift. 



100 History of Old Cuunock. 

The gown, which the Cameronians only tore, would have been 
his winding-sheet. 

Rule's authority for making this statement was a paper drawn 
up and attested by George Logan of Logan, John Campbell of 
Horsecleugh, George Campbell of Glaisnock, and others. After 
this Fordyce's name disappears from the annals of the church. 
No record remains to tell what became of him. 

(11.) Hdgh KiLPATBiCK (1692-1694). Four years elapsed 
before Cumnock obtained another minister. The Presbytery 
minutes state that on the 5th June, 1688, "the parish of Old 
Cumnock desired supply." A month later a call was presented 
to Thomas Miller, but he preferred to accept an invitation to 
Stranraer. Thereafter the Presbytery arranged to give pulpit 
supply, as far as they were able, from among their own number. 
Probationers, also, were employed to preach. At length an 
unanimous call was presented, on the 1st December, 1691, to 
Hu^ Kilpatrick, who, by his acceptance of it, became the first 
minister of the parish after the killing times were over. Kilpat- 
rick was a native of Ireland. His first charge was at Lurgan in 
the Green Isle, where he was ordained minister of the Presby- 
terian Church about 1686. Three years later he accepted the 
presentation to Dairy in Ayrshire, whence he removed to 
Cumnock on the 13th January, 1692, the congregation under- 
taking to *' accommodate him and transport his family." 

Kilpatrick's ministry was not of long duration. His eyes 
turned towards Ireland again. Within three years of his settle- 
ment he bade farewell to Cumnock, and in October, 1694, was 
admitted minister of Bollymoney in County Antrim. Seemingly 



The Minittbrs of CuBfNocK. 101 

he quitted Cumnock in a somewhat extraordinary fashion. He 
went over on a visit to Ireland, and never came back to his pariah. 
On the 15th August, 1694, a petition was handed in to the Pres- 
b3rtery by a number of "gentlemen and others in Cumnock 
desiring to know how to act ^ in relation to Eilpatrick. They 
asked whether a deputation of parishioners should go over to 
Ireland to interview the minister. The Presbytery decided that 
such a step was of no use. And so after the needful formal 
proceedings, Eilpatrick'*s connection with Cumnock ceased. He 
died at Ballymoney in 1712. His son James became a minister 
in Belfast. 

(12.) John Steel (1701-1746). After a vacancy of seven years, 
Cumnock again had a settled minister. The reason of the long 
vacancy is not known. A call had been addressed in 1697 to 
Archibald Hamilton, who did not see his way to accept it. At 
length, on the 26th March, 1701, Mr. John Steel was ordained 
to the pastorate. Two years before, he had received license at 
the hands of the Presb3rtery of Linlithgow. For 45 years he 
continued to act as minister, closing his career on the 4th March, 
1746, when he had reax^hed the age of 78. He was survived by 
his wife, Elizabeth Drummond. A good deal of information has 
come down to us about his work. Several points of interest may 
be noted. 

Soon after he was settled, Cumnock, like the rest of Scotland^ 
was engaged in discussing the proposals for union between our 
country and England. What view of the matter Cumnock took 
is not quite certain, but the following extract fix>m the session 
records lets us see that the question was eagerly debated by the 



102 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

people of the parish. It is of date 20th April, 1706. "The 
minister made intimation to the session of an appointment of the 
Synod, enjoining the several Presbyteries within their bounds to 
order the minister and elders of every paroch within their respec- 
tive districts, to set apart and keep a day with all convenient 
haste of meeting, for prayer to Almighty God, that He would 
graciously be pleased to pardon the abounding sins of the land, 
to avert His judgments thereby deserved, to disappoint the 
designs of His Churches enemies, and to overrule this important 
matter of the union betwixt the two nations now in agitation, to 
such happy conclusions as may be for His great name'*s glory and 
the good of His people." For this purpose the Session appoint 
" Saturday next, the SGth,*" as a day for prayer. 

Steel seems to have been a man of earnest spirit, who trembled 
lest the youth of the Church who were looking forward to the 
ministry, should depart from the old paths. He was much 
grieved at the influence which Professor Simson of Glasgow 
wielded over his students. As is well known, Simson held defec- 
tive views on the doctrine of the Trinity. His " case ^ occupied 
the Church courts for a lengthened period, and produced a good 
deal of feeling. The following quotation from Wodrow'^s Analecta 
(in., p. 337) shows us the position taken up by Mr. Steel in the 
matter. Wodrow, who is writing in 1726, is deploring the 
heresy of Professor Simson. Especially does he deplore it, he 
says, because " Mr. Steel of Cumnock tells me that about him 
there is a society of young students in severall places in the shire 
of Air, that meet in one another's houses once a fortnight, and 
there declare against all Confessions of Faith and subscription. 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 108 



and confirm one another in their opposition to them and loosnes 
in other points. That he has this accoimt from one of them who 
remains firm as yet, how long he knows not. Ah^ quorsum 
rutmiLs! These things look like some terrible cloud coming upon 
us in this Church, when matters are at this pass in the shire of 
Air and the West of Scotland, and it looks as if it flowed from 
Mr. Simson^s libertys that he gives and teaches his students.^ 

Mr. Steel was a strict upholder of the law and order of the 
Church. On one occasion he entered into a semi-public debate 
with Mr. John Adamson, a " disorderly pi;eacher,'' an account of 
which was published under Steel's auspices in 1714. The 
pamphlet bears the following title — An account of a late Confer^ 
ence on the S6th October j 1714^ betwixt Mr. John Steely Minister 
of the Gospel at Old Cumnock^ and Mr. John Adamson^ a 
disorderly preacher ^ anent the pretended grounds of his disorderly 
course. Attested by Mr. Steel himself and five elders^ who were 
eye and ear witnesses. Whereby Mr. Adamson will be found to 
have discovered his disingenuity even to a surprize^ and the utter 
groundlessness of his separation. Mr. Adamson was not satisfied 
with the account given by Mr. Steel. He therefore published a 
rejoinder in 1716 imder the title — Contendings for the Kingdom 
of Light against the Kingdom of Darkness^ being a copy of a 
true dispute betwiai Mr. John Steel at Comnocky and Mr. John 
Adamson, preacher of the Gospel, about the grounds of separaiion^ 
etc. Little good seems to have come out of the conference, which 
by arrangement took place in the house of an elder in the parish 
of Ochiltree, where Mr. Adamson was residing and holding 
services at the time. He continued to believe that ^'the 



104 History of Old Cumkock. 

ministers of the Church of Scotland were so unfaithful that he 
could not join with them."" 

One of the main objections of Mr. Adamson was connected 
with the attitude of the Church towards the Oath of Abjuration. 
Perhaps there was no subject which caused more heart-burning 
among the ministers and people of the Scottish Church, during 
the first half of the 18th century than the question of this oath. 
Had Mr. Steel experienced no more difficulty about it than that 
which arose from the action of Mr. Adamson, reference to it 
would hardly have been required. But the matter was debated 
in his session, and discussed by the congregation in their homes, 
till feeling was roused and the peace of the church broken. 

The story of the Oath of Abjuration is easily told. It was 
made obligatory by the Parliament of Queen Anne in 1712 upon 
all ministers of the Church of Scotland. Practically they were 
required to swear that the occupant of the throne of the newly 
united countries of England and Scotland should belong to the 
communion of the Church of England. This restriction natur- 
ally carried with it the inference that the crown could not be 
worn by one who adopted the principles of the Presbyterian 
Church. To ensure, if possible, its general acceptance by the 
Scottish ministers, penalties of a heavy nature were threatened to 
be inflicted upon all who should refuse to take the oath. Ruin- 
ous fines were to be exacted in the first instance. Those who 
persistently declined were to be forcibly ejected from their 
pastoral charges. To the position implied in the oath, the 
Church of Scotland could not of course agree. The whole 
country was agitated over the matter. Some ministers weakly 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 105 

took the oath. The majority declined at all hazards to conform, 
and among these was Mr. Steel. Resolutely he refused to bind 
himself with the restriction imposed by Parliament. In this he 
had the sympathy and the support of his people. 

How then did the difficulty arise ? In this way. Mr. Steel, 
though he had not taken the oath himself, had ministerial friends 
in the neighbourhood and elsewhere, who had obeyed the in- 
jimction of the crown. At a certain communion season one of 
these friends was invited by him to assist in Cumnock. Some of 
the members of session and a number of the congregation, des- 
pising those who had taken the bond, would not have him among 
them. Matters came to a crisis when Mr. Steel went from home 
to help at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the parish of a 
minister, who had subscribed the oath. His action was at once 
followed by the withdrawal of ten or twelve families from the 
church. Others expressed great dissatisfaction, though they did 
not go the length of separating themselves from his ministry. As 
far as he could, Mr. Steel tried to allay feeling on the point. He 
read from the pulpit the recommendation both of the Synod and 
the Assembly, that congregations should make no difference be- 
tween ministers who took the oath, and ministers who refused to 
take it. He consulted with his elders frequently about it, but 
some of them he could not convince. No method of settling the 
difficulty could be discovered. The result was that, for four or 
five years, the Lord's Supper was not celebrated in the parish. 
At length, in 1716, it was agreed to ask the advice of the Pres- 
bytery, for which purpose an elder, William MK]!owan, was 
appointed to go to Ayr with the minister and bring the answer 



106 History of Old Cumkock. 



back " in write."" What happened after that does not appear 
from the session records. Feeling gradually died down, for imder 
date 17th August, 1718, we read " the Lord's Supper was cele- 
brated to-day.*" 

Before the difficulty connected with the Oath of Abjuration 
began to disturb the peace of the congregation, Mr. Steel had 
made acquaintance with schism on a small scale in the parish. 
The record of it is interesting, because of the way in which it 
introduces us to the name of the well-known Hepburn of Urr. 
This minister, who was most earnest in his work, and thoroughly 
evangelical in his doctrine, had been deposed by the Greneral 
Assembly of 1705, '*for his troublesome zeal in the cause of 
Reformation.'' He even suffered a long imprisonment because 
he would not cease to preach and to expound his views. It is 
not certain, though it is very likely, that Hepburn, as he went 
about Dumfriesshire and Ayrshire, preached in Cumnock. At 
any rate, the session minutes make it plain that he had a few 
followers here about the year 1710. These people had gone to 
him for baptism for their children. The fact that he baptized 
children belonging to our town is a sufficient indication of the 
presence of Hepburn in the neighbourhood at least. These 
Separatists, however, were taken back at their own wish a little 
later into the communion of the church, though only after having 
been rebuked for their defection. 

Mr. Steel's son, John, was minister of Stair from 1735 till 
1804. He died the Father of the Church, in the ninety-fourth 
year of his age, and the sixty-ninth of his ministry. An incident 
connected with him is not without interest in the light which it 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 107 

throws upon his character and upon the social and ecclesiastical 
life of the time. He was present, after his ordination at Stair, 
when Homers Tragedy of Douglas was acted in the theatre at 
Edinburgh. Thereupon the Presbytery of Edinburgh directed a 
letter to be written to the Presbytery of Ajrr informing them of 
the fact, on which he was called before them and acknowledged he 
was present He pleaded, however, that " the playhouse being a 
great distance from his parish, he had no reason to apprehend 
that he would be known, or that his presence would have given 
ofFence."" He added that as he was now sensible that he had 
been mistaken, and that his conduct was calculated to give 
offence to his brethren and to others, he was extremely sorry, 
and would offend in the same way no more. The Presbytery 
accepted this apology as sufficient, and the case ended. 

Mr. Steel of Stair married the heiress of Gadgirth estate in the 
neighbouring parish of Coylton. His descendants possessed it 
until quite recently. It passed out of their hands by sale after 
the death of Greneral Burnett, a descendant of Mr. Steel in direct 
line. 

(18.) Adam Thomson (1748-1761). The long ministry of Mr. 
Steel was followed by the brief ministry of Mr. Adam Thomson, 
who, belonging to the parish of Saline, was licensed by the 
Presb3rtery of Dunfermline on the 4th March, 1747. In Decem- 
ber of the same year he was called to Cumnock and ordained on 
the S8th April, 1748, " by the laying on of the hands of the 
Presbytery,^ as the session records tell us, '^ on which occasion 
Mr. Samuel Walker, minister in Dalrymple, preached from these 
words in Hosea xiv. 9, ^ Whoso is wise and he shall understand 



108 History or Old Cumnock. 

these things/ ^ Little is known of the ministry of Mr. Thomson. 
He was evidently a great sufferer from ill health, for several 
minutes of the year 1750 run in this way : — " Mr. Reid of Ochil- 
tree preached and presided to-day, Mr. Thomson being necessarily 
absent on account of his indisposition,^ " Mr. Coats of Dalmel- 
lington preached and presided to-day, Mr. Thomson being absent 
through indisposition.*" In the second year of his ministry an 
entry was made in the records, which may well have grieved him 
and the whole congregation. For we read on August 29th, 
1749, that Mary Pearson, a member of the church, had been ex- 
ecuted at Ayr for the murder of her child. His fight with feeble 
health was not of long duration. Mr. Thomson died on the 1st 
February, 1761. 

(14.) George Muir (1752-1766). The successor of Thomson 
in the parish was Mr. Greorge Muir, who was bom at Spott, near 
Dunbar, in 1723. In early life he served as a clerk to a writer in 
Edinburgh, with the view of entering the legal profession, but 
being led to visit Cambuslang in the summer of 1742, when the 
well-known revival was taking place, Muir came under deep 
religious impression and determined to devote himself to the 
work of the ministry. While a student in Edinburgh he threw 
himself heartily into various forms of religious work, and was a 
useful member of certain societies which met for prayer and the 
study of the Bible. In a MS. book kept by young Muir at this 
period, and which is still extant, a good deal of information re- 
garding the movement at Cambuslang is given. The book con- 
tains copies of private letters written to him by friends in the 
West of Scotland, who continued in touch with the revival after 



The Mini8T£bs of Cumnock. 109 

Muir went back to Edinburgh. And certainly it sajrs much for 
the spiritual life of his correspondents, as well as for his own 
goodness, that such letters should have passed between them. 
For they abound in expressions of ardent aspiration for the glory 
of Christ and of personal consecration to his cause, reminding 
one in some measure of the way in which Samuel Rutherford 
speaks of the Saviour in his letters. The book could only have 
been more interesting than it is, if it had contained copies of 
M uir's own letters in reply to those of his friends. As he does 
not give the full names of his correspondents, but contents him- 
self with mentioning their initials, it is not possible to say who 
they were. 

One of the most noteworthy facts to be gleaned from the book 
is Muir's connection with Whitefield, the great English evange- 
list, who visited Cambuslang on the occasion of the revival more 
than once. It is quite clear that Muir heard him preach, and 
very probably was at one of the communions in which Whitefield 
took part It is even possible that it was the preaching of 
Whitefield, which turned the thoughts of the future minister of 
Cimmock to the things of the kingdom of Grod. At any rate, 
through Muir, oiu: parish has a dose link with that honoured 
servant of Christ, whose name for a century and a half has been a 
household word in oiur land. The first letter which the book 
contains has the following reference to Whitefield^s work. The 
date is 7th July, 1742. The correspondent is A. K. : — ^^ Dear 
Sir, — ^I hope by this time you are more and more convinced of 

the dear Mr. Wh d*s laboiuv in the Master^s vineyard, and 

shall be glad to hear of any of the fruits of his labours with you.^ 



110 History of Old Cumnock. 

Muir replied to this letter in due course, and A. K. writes again 
on 2Snd September, in these terms : — " I am fond to have your 

sentiments about worthy Mr. Wh d." One can only regret 

that no record now remains of the ** sentiments ^ of Mr. Muir 
about Whitefield. His impressions would have been both 
interesting and valuable. In their absence, let another extract 
from the letters of his friends be given. It is taken from one 
written by J. A. on 2nd August, 1748, on hearing from Mr. 
Muir that he purposed to enter the ministry : — " I have perused 
yours enclosed to me, and some worthy, old, brave Christians here 
with me have perused it. And after mature deliberation, we do 
heartily and cheerfully approve of your laudable puipose, and 
earnestly entreat you to make such prudent despatches that way, 
as you may in providence find. ... I am glad to hear you 
counting the cost both of professing and preaching a dear, 
loving, and yet a despised Jesus. What a wonderful mercy it is, 
Sir, that there is no duty we are called upon to perform which 
does not come under the influence of a promise. I am likewise 
glad to hear you sensible of the plagues of your own heart, and 
to find you groaning under spiritual pride, that monstrous, 
unreasonable, and abominable bosom enemv. . . Two of our 
valuable ministei*s here, Mr. Stirling, and particularly Mr. 
M^Laurin, want much to see and converse with you when you 
come west this week, and I have promised to introduce you, 
which I hope you will not decline.'" ITie writer of this letter 
was a lajrman. The words and tone of it bear abundant testi- 
mony to his spiritual character. Friends, such as he, must have 
exercised a most beneficial influence over young Muir. Addi- 




OLD ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 



The Ministers of Cumkock. Ill 

tional letters by him and other correspondents give detailed 
accounts of the various meetings held at Cambuslang, and are 
valuable as giving the impressions of an eye-witness, who was not 
a minister, of what took place at the time of the memorable 
awakening in 1742 and 1743. But as that subject in its general 
aspect is foreign to the purpose in hand, there is no occasion to 
refer to it now. The book itself, from which these extracts are 
taken, is in the possession of Mr. Macrae, late teacher at 
Dalleagles, New Cumnock. 

After completing his theological course, Mr. Muir taught for 
some time in the parish school of Camock, where he enjoyed the 
friendship and attended the ministry of Thomas Gillespie, and 
sometimes was able to hear Ralph Erskine, who by that time had 
seceded from the Church of Scotland. In 1750 he was licensed 
by the Presbytery of Dunfermline, and two years later, on the 
30th November, 1752, he was ordained minister of Cumnock. 
Though separated from his ministerial friends in the east of 
Scotland, he continued to correspond with them, and was helped 
at communion times by such men as Mr. Noble of Liberton, and 
Dr. Webster and Mr. Pleuderleith, both of the Tolbooth Church, 
Edinburgh. 

A year or two after he was settled here, Mr. Muir published a 
little volume, the first of several which he passed through the 
press, entitled Chrisfs Cross and Crown. This work, like all the 
others which came from his pen, bears the stamp of the Cambus- 
lang revival. This is seen from the motto taken from Dr. 
Young, which he prefixed to it — 



112 History or Old Ccmkock. 



** In Hit blert life 
I see the path, and in Hit death the price. 
And in Hii grand aaoent the proof enpreme 
Of immortality." 

Ill 1760 lie published a sermon which he preached on the 
fu*(*i*NNi()ii of George III. to the throne, and in 1762 an ordination 
MTiiioti with addresses bearing on a subject which pressed heavily 
on Uln heart — the laxity of discipline in the Church. Four years 
liiliT he* Nliowed his missionary spirit by agreeing to preach the 
iiiiiiiiiil wTiiioii in Edinburgh, in behalf of the society for propagat- 
litK ( *hriNt inn knowledge. Tliis sermon he published under the title 
The ComHTsion qfthe Gentiles, In the same year, 1766, after a 
iiiitiiNtrj of fourteen years in Cumnock, he was called to the High 
(1tur(*h, riiiNJc*)^, wliere he laboui*ed for five years till his death in 
1771. Wliilc in Paisley, he published an ExposUimi of the 
PnralJii of the Soxoer^ and after his death there appeared a similar 
work on the Paralile qfthe Tares in twenty-one sermons — all of 
wliich doubtless lie had delivered in Cumnock. Besides one or 
two otiicr Npec*ial sennons which he printed, some communion 
tabic addresses published by him may be noted. 

llie cause of his death was very striking. I give the following 
account of his illness and death, in the words of one who attended 
his ministry in Paisley. It is taken from The Christian Instructor 
of 1838, and gives us a glimpse of the bravery he showed in 
carrying on his work when disabled by disease. " A slight acci- 
dent to his foot produced a cancerous affection, which soon 
assumed a threatening aspect. He bore his sufferings with 
Christian calmness and fortitude. When unable to walk to 
church, he was carried in a sedan chair, and spoke from a 



Thx Ministers of Cumkock. 113 

specially elevated seat in the pulpit in a sitting posture. His 
assiduity was such that occasionally on week days he was carried 
to the court hall hear his house, for the purpose of catechizing 
his people. At length his medical attendant deemed amputation 
necessary. The operation seemed successful, and hopes were 
entertained by his friends of years of usefulness before him. 
During the night following that on which the operation took 
place, an artery burst while he slept, and soon, from the loss of 
blood, he passed away on the SOth July, 1771. His death caused 
a deep sensation in Paisley.'" The same writer gives the follow- 
ing information regarding his family. ^^ On the 12th September, 
1758, Mr. Muir married Isabella, daughter of the Rev. Mr. 
Wardlaw of Dunfermline, by whom he had several children. 
His son James became pastor of the Presb3rterian Church in 
Alexandria, State of Virginia, U.S.A. He there published a 
volume of sermons. Mrs. Muir did not long survive her husband. 
Both are interred in the bmying ground of the old Low Church, 
Paisley, under a tablet bearing a suitable inscription to their 
memory."" 

Another extract from the same sympathetic biography reveals 
to us the way in which he sought to reach the ideal of the 
Christian ministry. ^^ As a Christian pastor he was most assiduous 
in the instruction of his people in the leading doctrines of the 
gospeL Possessing an ample fund of divine knowledge, and 
having the power of uttering himself in strong and appropriate 
language, accompanied with a full toned voice, he appeared to 
great advantage, and was esteemed in his day a powerful and 
impressive preacher. In administering instruction and consola- 

H 



114 HisTOEY OF Old Cubinock. 

Hon to the afflicted, much kindness and Christian affection were 
displayed, and much of that wisdom which cometh from above, 
accompanied with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. . . . 
In leading the prayers of the congregation he poured out his 
whole soul ; and a peculiar unction and enlargement, with a 
fulness of rich and suitable expression, particularly distinguished 
his public devotional exercises."" 

The glimpses, which are thus afforded by these references to 
the worth of Mr. M uir, clearly show what a precious gift Cum- 
nock possessed from God during his ministry. His memory re- 
mains with us to the present day. One of the old residents in 
the town heard of the circumstances of his death from those who 
had listened to his preaching. It brings his ministry very near 
us, when we can say that one still living with us often conversed 
with those who enjoyed the ministry of Mr. Muir in the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 

If Mr. Muir connects our parish with the work of Whitefield, 
he connects it also with a movement of another kind, which in his 
early days was at its height. ITiis was the rebellion of Prince 
Charlie, which ended with the defeat at Culloden in 1746. Muir 
of course was a young man at the time, living in his father'*s house 
at Spott. The English troops under " Johnnie Cope "" landed at 
Dunbar from the North, meaning to proceed to Edinburgh. 
Curiosity led Muir to visit the English camp. Let him tell his 
experience in his own words. The story is found in the manu- 
script book to which reference has been made. It is not in his 
own handwriting, but apparently in the handwriting of his son, 
who filled up the volume with incidents, religious and secular, 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 115 



which took place in the neighbourhood, and chiefly in New Cum- 
nock where he resided. The authenticity of the story is guaran- 
teed by the title which the paragraph bears — Some remarkable 
Providences thai happened Dr. George Muir^ Minister of the 
Gospd in Paisley, The story runs in this way : — ^^^ In the year 
'46, going to see General Cope's regiment, I took out my pocket 
book with my kilavin pen without any evil intentions, to mark 
down the enemy's number, upon which an officer coming up to 
me asked me what I meant, and at the same time cursing me, 
said I was his prisoner. One, Mr. Lorimer, an acquaintance of 
my parents, hearing of my dismal situation, sent his servant post 
haste to give an account of my case to some of the principal 
officers on the British side, upon which I was relieved. When I 
consider the strictness of the martial law, and that I was among 
officers belching out the most horrid oaths and imprecations 
against me, I have reason to bless God for the singular Provi- 
dence. Bless the Lord, oh my soul."" 

That the sjrmpathy of the future minister of Cumnock, in some 
degree at least, was given to Prince Charlie, is evident from the 
maimer in which he speaks of the British troops as ^^ the 
enemy." 

Four other remarkable occurrences in which Mr. Muir saw the 
hand of God are given. As everything about him is of interest, 
another of his experiences may be mentioned. ^^ At another 
time,'' he says, ^^ my comrade and I went out in a boat from the 
pier of Dunbar for the sake of pleasure ; in coming in again, I 
fell upon the water upon my back where I lay a considerable 
time, imtil providentially a sailor from a top mast espied me and 



116 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 



came to my aid and delivered me fix)m my distressful situation. 
Bless the Lord, oh my soul."" 

Of the work of Mr. Muir in Cumnock and the spirit he showed 
in canning it on, we happen to know more than of the work and 
spirit of any other minister down to recent times. The session 
records testify that after his settlement, new life came into the 
Church and new methods were adopted for the progress of 
Christ^s cause in the parish. The sin of drunkenness begins now 
to be frequently referred to, and the ordinary discipline of the 
Church, apparently long in desuetude for this sin, revived. But 
the sessional discipline was only part of the effort of the Church 
to redeem guilty persons from insobriety. The private dealing 
of the minister, of which we can read between the lines of the 
formal minutes, would go far to win offenders back, and would 
be a work into which Mr. Muir would throw himself with all the 
earnestness of his faithful spirit. 

Two days of special humiliation were set apart at different 
times by the session at his instigation. The minutes appointing 
them let us see the objects on which the minister's heart was set, 
and his passionate desire to promote spiritual life. They are as 
follows : — ^* January 23, 1768, the session appoint next Friday to 
be a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer, because of 
the prevalence of irreligion and ungodliness in the parish," and 
"March 81, 1766, the session taking into their serious considera- 
tion the alarming appearance of the weather, by which the labour 
and the sowing of the ground are so much hindered and scarcity 
of bread thereby threatened, considering that our national, 
parochial, family and personal sins are a just cause why Grod may 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 117 



plead his controversy against us bj breaking the staff of bread, 
and that the threatening of such calamity calls for special 
humiliation and prayer, they unanimously agreed to set apart 
Wednesday next, as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and 
prayer.*" 

One can easily see that when these edicts were read from the 
pulpit, and when the day of humiliation came, Mr. Muir, with 
all sorrow for the presence of smallpox and all sjrmpathy with 
those affected by the severity of the weather, had chiefly in view 
the lack of real religious life in the parish, and was consumed 
with the desire to bring his people into holier ways. That this 
was no spasmodic desire on his part is evident from a letter which 
he wrote on Snd January, 1756, to his friend, the Rev. Mr. 
MacCulloch of Cambuslang, imder whose ministry the revival had 
taken place in 174S. It shows us, too, how eager he was to 
foster the beginnings of a better state of things. For after 
speaking of the indifference to spiritual matters he found on 
every side, he says : — ^* In the midst of all such discouraging cir- 
cumstanws, 'tis no smaU mercy if any children of promise are on 
the growing hand and in the exercise of grace waiting for our 
Lord^s coming. This appears to be the case even among us. A few 
in this town (four or five) have some time ago of their own accord 
associated together on the Lord'^s evening for prayer and con- 
ference, a thing not known in this village in the memory of man. 
They met on the Sabbath evening to make it less observable, but 
as they have not been able to conceal themselves, they have the 
courage now to meet on a week night. It is pretty remarkable 
that a Seceder was the means of it. He came into this parish at 



118 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

Whitsunday, and though continumg a Seceder in other things, 
has always allowed himself to attend ordinances here. Dear Sir, 
pray for us that the Lord may show us greater things than 
these.*" He adds a family item, " My son is just now in a fever, 
but rather in the way of mending.*" 

The reference in this letter to the Seceder, who doubtless 
became one of the founders of what is now the United Presby- 
terian Church, and who remained in such friendly relations with 
the minister of the parish, reveals to us a side of Mr. Muir^s 
nature which is worthy of notice. He was extremely catholic in 
his sympathies, and lived on terms of intimacy with ministers of 
other denominations, among whom were Mr. Belfrage of the 
Secession Church, Falkirk, and Mr. Hervey, the rector of Weston 
Favell in Northamptonshire, whose Meditations amonff the Tombs 
are well-known. In one of Mr. Hervey'*s letters, that clergyman 
says, " I beg Mr. Muir's pardon for not paying honour to his 
last letter. It is my affliction and misfortune, that I cannot 
cultivate a correspondence with several valuable persons at whose 
fire I might light my torch.'^ 

In his work Mr. Muir was most methodical. There is still ex- 
tant his Visiting and Eocamining Roll of the town and parish of 
Old Cumnock^ begun on 11th January, 1757, and ended on 26th 
October of the same year. It was inserted by him in the book 
into which he had copied the letters received by him in 1742, in 
connection with the Cambuslang revival. The roll is kept with 
great care. Every name in the parish is entered in it. Certain 
interesting facts are brought out by it. For instance in the town 
then, there were 147 families and 547 persons, of whom 120 were 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 119 

children. In the country there were 182 "farm towns," with 281 
families and 647 persons, of whom 176 were children. The total 
population of the parish accoixlingly was 1194, of whom 296 were 
children. 

On the communion roll there were 410 names. The number 
of separate farms is seen to have been much greater a century and 
a half ago, than it is now. Many farms, whose names are given 
in Mr. Muir's list, are now obliterated, being joined to others. 
It will be noticed, too, that the population of the country part 
of the parish was greater then than in the town. 

In another section of the same book we find a register of 
deaths begun in the year 1757 " for my own private use and 
satisfaction.'" We get a view of the family life of Mr. Muir from 
the two following entries. " Ann Muir, my own daughter, died 
of a teething fever on the 21st January, being 9 months and a 
week old,'' and " 8th January, 1759, Greorge Muir, my own son, 
died of a nervous distemper, being 8 days old.'' 

Before this sketch of Muir's life is closed, a specimen of his 
ordinary preaching may be welcome. It is taken from his 
Eajxmtion of the Parable of the Tares (Sermon vii.). " Oh, pray 
for the ungodly amongst whom you dwell, and by whom you are 
now tried ; for who knoweth but as to some of them at least, 
they may after all be won over to Jesus Christ and become 
fellow-heirs with you of the same inheritance. It is a common — 
a laudable practice for the friends of distressed persons to re- 
commend them to the prayers of the churches. Accordingly, we 
frequently hear from this place a catalogue of the diseased ; one 
grappling with acute pain or violent sickness; another swimming 



liEO H18TOKT OF Old Cumnock. 

for life in the rage of some epidemical diitemper, a third groan- 
ing under the infirmities of age, and sometimes all of them 
wrestling to outward appearance with the King of Terrors. We 
would humbly recommend a very different list of diseases, and 
loudly call for your prayers in behalf of those labouring imder 
them. We would call you to remember in prayer one who is for 
ordinary a prayerless person, and who has ventured to come here 
without bowing the knee to God ; another who holds the Scrip- 
tures so cheap, that he scarce looks upon the Bible from one 
Sabbath to another, and who treats ordinances with such con- 
tempt that he is as sparing of his attendance upon them as' 
possible; a third who lately staggered under the influence of 
midnight riot and drunkenness ; a fourth who in a certain place 
and with a particular party profaned the name of God and made 
merry with sacred things ; a fifth who in his dealings with such 
a one was guilty of known fraud and injustice, who cheated and 
over-reached him to his face under very opposite pretences ; a 
sixth who is so lost in frolic and pastime that he hath hitherto 
found no leisure, no convenient season for serious reflection and 
concern about eternity ; a seventh who dreams of his state being 
good while in fact he is yet in the jaws of bitterness and bond of 
iniquity. . . . These, and such as these, labour under the 
most malignant distempers, and they are threatened with eternal 
death, and any means formerly used towards their recovery have 
proved inefiectual. Let me therefore insist with you to pray for 
them, since who knoweth but the Lord may be gracious."" 

This extract from one of Mr. Muir^s sermons shows us how 
faithful a minister he was, and how blessed Cumnock was with 



The M1NI8TEB8 OF CuMNocx. ISl 

the presence of such a devoted servant of Grod. Though his dis- 
courses belong to a bygone age, they are characterized by 
remarkable freshness, as well as by their practical bearing on 
every-day life. They abound in passages full of descriptive 
power, of pathos, and of affectionate appeal. When delivered 
with his deep sounding voice, they must have produced a great 
impression. Altogether, by the spirituality of his character, the 
earnestness of his work, the eloquence which he displayed in the 
pulpit, as well as by his achievements in religious literature, 
Geoige Muir may lay claim to be the most memorable and the 
most outstanding of all the ministers of Cumnock. 

It only remains to be added r^arding him that, after his 
removal to Paisley, he received in the year 1768 the d^ree of 
Doctor of Divinity from Princeton College, New Jersey. The 
president of that collie at the time was the Rev. Dr. Wither- 
spoon, who, imtil his departure for America, was closely associated 
with Mr. Muir as one of the ministers of Paisley. One of his 
first acts as head of Princeton, was to send to his friend the 
academic title of which he was so worthy. It is somewhat 
singular that Witherspoon, during the rebellion of 1745-6, should 
have been seized and made a prisoner as Muir was at Dunbar. 
Hearing that a battle was about to be fought at Falkirk, the 
future president of Princeton, then minister of Beith, was eager 
to witness it. He went, and after the defeat of .the forces of the 
Crown, was captured by the troops of Prince Charlie. He did 
not, however, gain his freedom so easily as Mr. Muir, for it was 
only after great danger that he made his escape from the castle 
of Doune in which he was confined. How the two friends thrown 



1S2 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

together in the Providence of Grod, would talk of the peril they 
ran unknown to each other in days long gone by ! And both 
with all their wonted fervour would cry, " Bless the Lord, my 
soul." 

(16.) Thomas Miller (1767-1819). Just a year after the 
translation of Mr. Muir to Paisley, the vacancy was filled by the 
ordination of the Rev. Thomas Miller, son of Mr. William Miller, 
bookseller, Edinburgh. He was licensed by the Presbytery of 
Dalkeith on 12th June, 1764, received the presentation to the 
parish from William, Earl of Dumfries and Stair, in April, 1767, 
and was settled on S4th September of the same year. 

His ministry in Cumnock is unique in several respects. He 
has been the only minister in the parish entitled to write after 
his name the words " Doctor of Divinity,^ for though Mr. Muir 
was honoured with the same degree, he did not obtain it while 
he was here. This degree of D.D. Mr. Miller received from the 
University of Edinburgh in 1788. His ministry also stands by 
itself, inasmuch as he is the only incumbent of Cumnock who has 
reached his jubilee. For he died on Ist June, 1819, in the 
eightieth year of his age, and the fifty -second of his service in 
the church. In one other respect as well, he is different from all 
his predecessors and all his successors down to the present time. 
He is the only minister who has enjoyed the help of a colleague. 
It is true he only survived the admission of his colleague a little 
more than a fortnight, but that is the only period since the 
Reformation at which, in any of the chm*ches in Cumnock, there 
have been two ordained ministers in charge at the same time. 

In 1780 Mr. Miller married Janet, the daughter of the Rev. 



The Ministers of Cumnock. ISS 

Dr. Matthew Stewart of Catrine House, Professor of Mathematics 
in the University of Edinburgh, and the sister of the better 
known Dugald Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the 
same university. It is interesting for us to remember that the 
distinguished occupant of the Moral Philosophy Chair in the 
metropolitan seat of learning, whose fame was world-wide, had a 
close connection with Cumnock, and was frequently seen at the 
manse. The same aged townsman, to whom reference has already 
been made, speaks of having seen Dugald Stewart in our streets. 
On one occasion Professor Dugald Stewart, when about to pro- 
ceed to the Continent, left his only child Matthew, afterwards 
Colonel Stewart of Catrine House, under the charge of his 
brother-in-law Mr. Miller, whose wife had just died. In writing 
to a friend he thus refers to him : — ^^'Paris, 80th May, 1789 . . 
I received your letter to-day, and along with it a letter from Mr. 
Miller, which makes my mind perfectly easy about Matthew and 
the children at Cumnock.^ Dugald Stewart had in his poasessioQ 
a snuff box which he treasured very much, and which possibly 
was of Cumnock manufacture. In 1798 he writes in this way to 
his friend. Rev. Archibald Alison, afterwards of Edinbuigh, bat 
then of Eenley in Shropshire : — ^^ I rejoice at the birth of your 
son (the late Sir Archibald Alison, the historian of Europe). I 
don'^t know what duties your Church imposes on a godfstther, but 
I promise to do all I can to make him a philosopher and an 
economist, and I engage as soon as he begins to snuff (which I 
suppose he will begin to do a dozen years hence), to make him 
the present of a very handsome box, which I received lately with 
the ^ Rights of Man' inscribed on the lid." 



IM HirroRT op Old Cumnock. 

The oral accounts which have come down to us of Dr. Miller as 
a preacher are not flattering. He evidently was a slave to his 
manuscript, and people then, at least in Cumnock, could not bear 
^ reading.^ His voice, too, was not suited like Mr. Muir's for 
effective eloquence. At any rate he is said to have done a good 
deal of greeting in the pulpit. One day the humorous Laird of 
Logan was asked by a friend, ** What gars the minister greet sae 
muckle?" Logan^s reply was ready. "If ye were up there in the 
pulpit and had as little to say, ye would greet too,^' 

But whatever may be the truth regarding the preaching 
powers of Dr. Miller according to the stories that have reached 
our day, and doubtless there is some truth in them, it is well to 
remember that the session and the people were of a very different 
opinion, when they asked the Presbytery to ordain him over them 
as their minister in 1767. They were very cautious men. They 
wished to test the presentee^s gifts first. Accordingly they ap- 
pointed, on May 8rd, Mr. Robert Patterson to petition the 
"reverend Presbytery in their name for the hearing of Mr. 
Miller." This was granted, with the following I'esult under date 
June 7th : — ^^ The Session had laid before them a petition signed 
by the Earl of Dumfries and Stair and the other residing heritors, 
to be given to the Presbytery'*s next meeting on Wednesday first, 
for moderating in a call to Mr. Thomas Miller to be the minister 
of this vacant charge, who preached lately two days to the satis- 
faction qfaU^ This petition the session concurred in and signed. 
Accordingly when he came. Dr. Miller was extremely acceptable 
to the people, to the elders and to the heritors. 

For twenty years before his colleague was appointed, Dr. 



The M1NISTEB8 OF Cumnock. 125 

Miller seems to have been very little in the pulpit. The reason 
of this is not evident, unless his unpopularity as a preacher led 
him to get the help of unordained assistants. One of these was 
named Anderson. On inquiry being made a. to Anderson's set- 
tlement anjrwhere in the Church, an old man, who remembered 
him, said with a twinkle in his eye, ** Na, na, I never heerd of 
him being settled anywhere, Mr. Miller got him chape.*** 

A suspicion was prevalent, too, that Dr. Miller was inclined to 
hold unsound views on the divinity of Christ On one occasion 
Mr. Robertson of the Secession Church, Kilmarnock, was preach- 
ing in the dissenting church at Rigg in Auchinleck. In the 
course of his sermon he vigorously denounced the moderation of 
the Church of Scotland. ^^ There are even Socinians in it,"" he 
said, and pointing towards Cumnock, he continued, ^* there^s one 
of them down there.^ 

The only literary production of Dr. Miller is the short but 
interesting description of the parish, which he wrote for the 
Siatistical Accmmi of Scotland in 179S. It is the most reliable 
record we have of the condition of the parish, at the end of the 
eighteenth century. A genuine vein of humour ran through his 
nature. A story, which has survived till the present day, serves 
to illustrate this. His widowed daughter, who kept house for 
him, was extremely anxious to remove to Edinburgh. Dr. 
Miller, deeply attadied to Cumnock, would not consent. At 
length, very reluctantly on the appointment of his colleague, he 
agreed to go. But it was altogether owing to the persistent 
appeals of his daughter that he took the step. Of this he made 
no secret, for he went about the town saying, ^* Some men are 



126 Historic of Old Cumnock. 

henpecked, but Fm chicken dabbit.'" The fine relish of the 
phrase " chicken dabbit *" savours of genuine Scottish humour. 

He died with the love of Cumnock in his heart. The week 
after he reached Edinburgh, he was visited by Mr. Robert Latta, 
the well-known carrier in those old days between our town and 
the capital. He was not very well and said, "I can't talk to you 
to-day, Robert, come back next week and tell me about Cumnock.*" 
Next week Dr. Miller was dead. A little while before his death, 
the blind of his room was drawn up and he looked out. All he 
said was, ** Ah, this isn't Cumnock." So passed away the oldest 
minister who ever laboured in our parish. He was buried in 
Greyfriars' Churchyard, Edinburgh, in the burying ground of 
Provost Neilson. No stone marks the spot. 

The following appreciative notice of him taken from the Fasti 
will be read with interest. " Few blended more happily in their 
character the cleig3anan, the gentleman and the man of letters. 
A high sense of honour, inflexible integiity, social sympathy, 
benevolence and good humour were united with perfect polite- 
ness, knowledge of the world and of books. None was more 
indefatigable in the performance of clerical duty. His devotion 
was ardent and tender, and he was assiduous in endeavouring to 
extend by precept and example that religion, the history and 
doctrine of which were his favourite study, and the joy and con- 
solation of his heart His bibliographical knowledge was accurate 
and exclusive ; and his house the abode of hospitality, elegance 
and piety. Few have been more venerated in old age. 

redit os placidam, moresqne benigni 

Et venit ante oonlos, et pectore yivit imago." 



The MnnsTBBs of Cumnock. 127 

Dr. Miller had three sons and one daughter. In Tlu Scots 
Magazine for 1815 appears this intimation in the list of 
marriages : — ^^ April 10. At Cumnock, Major James Miller of 
His Majest/s 74th regiment of foot to Miss Maigaret Miller, 
only daughter of the Rev. Dr. Miller, minister of Cumnock.** 
Her married life was very brief; for in the same magazine, 
under date June 4th of the same year, we read : — ^ Died at the 
manse of Cumnock, Brevet Major James Miller of the 7ith 
regiment, and late Lieutenant Colonel of the SSrd Portuguese 
regiment.^ Major Miller had seen a good deal of active service 
abroad, especially in the Peninsular War in the army of the 
Sang of Portugal. In the battle of Toulouse he was severely 
wounded in the head. It was from the efiects of that wound, 
that he died with tragic suddenness so soon after his marriage. 

Of his three sons, William the eldest was a Colonel in the 
army, Matthew a merchant in Liverpool, and Patrick a physician 
in Exeter. The last named, Patrick, was frequently in the habit 
of visiting Cumnock A grandson of Dr. Miller entered the 
navy and in due time attained the rank of Rear- Admiral His 
name drops out of the Navy List in 1879. That at least is the 
latest year in which we read of Rear- Admiral Thomas Miller. 

(16) John Frazbk (1819-1829). There are a good many 
people still in the parish, who have a distinct recollection of the 
Rev. John Frazer. Before he was admitted to the pastorate as 
colleague to Dr. Miller on 13th May, 1819, he had been for three 
years minister of the Presbyterian congr^ation of Monkwear- 
mouth, a suburb of Sunderland, to the chai^ of which he was 
ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on Slst May, 1816. 



128 HuToiY OF Old Cumnock. 

His early days were spent in Rothesay, of which he was a native. 
His connection with Bute brought him under the notice of the 
Marquis of Bute, who did well for Cumnock when he brought 
Mr. Frazer fix)m the south, and entrusted him with the charge of 
the parish. 

In his preaching Mr. Frazer was decidedly evangelical. On 
that aocoimt, his ministry must have been a great contrast to 
that of his old colleague. Even while a probationer, he was not 
ashamed to let his views be clearly known. It is told of him on 
one occasion, that he arrived on Saturday evening at the manse 
of a Moderate minister, in order to preach next day as a candi- 
date for the assistantship in the church. At breakfast on Sabbath 
morning the post came in, bringing a newspaper for Mr. Frazer 
and letters for the household. He laid the newspaper aside, 
reserving it for the following day. At once he was put down as 
a *^ High Fljdng Evangelical ^ and lost all chance of becoming 
the helper of that Moderate minister. 

His kindly interest in children is perhaps the most conspicuous 
feature of his ministry which is remembered to-day. One old 
resident, who speaks of Mr. Frazer as if it were only yesterday 
since she saw him, describes him as a man of fine appearance and 
taU stature, greatly beloved by all, even by the dissenters, who 
by this time were becoming quite numerous. She tells how he 
used to stop in the street and pat the little children on the head, 
the boys touching their caps to him and the girls curtseying. 
Mr. Frazer held also catechetical classes in the vestry, which the 
young people attended. A member of one of these classes of 



TflE MlXBTEBS OF CrusotHL 129 



instnictioiiy still alive, reoollecti lepeating to him the tfairtr- 
seventh PaiaphiBse, and being oonunendcd bj him. 

Every reminisoenoe of Mr. Fruer that floats about the parish 
bears testimony to his goodness and his piety. A stonr in con- 
nection with his ordinary visitation iUostiates the soggestiTenesa 
of his method of giving spiritual instruction. Tbe diet of visita- 
tion was at Meadow &rm. The neighbours had gathered there 
for the purpose of being addressed by the minister. Hie young 
people, if not the older people as well, were expected to repeat 
the answers to certain questions in the Shorter CaUehism. The 
question with which Mr. Fraxer was ^A^ling was " What is 
Prayer ? ** The answer had been correctly given by a iarm lad, 
to whom Mr. Frazer put the further question, ''How often 
should we pray ? * After a pause the boy said, *^ Morning and 
evening.^ On this reply Mr. Frazer^s only comment was, ^ At 
least" 

It was in Mr. Frazer's time that the habit of *^ pirlecuing^ was 
given up in Cumnock. At communion seasons at the close of 
the Monday service, it was the practice of the minister to refer 
to the various sermons which had been preached, giving a short 
account of each. To this custom the name of ^ pirlecuing ^ was 
given, the word being derived by Jamieson from the French pour 
le queue. On one occasion Dr. Balfour of Som was oflSciating on 
the Monday. When Mr. Frazer came at the close of the service 
to speak of the sermon that had just been delivered and which 
the people had all heard, he found great difficulty in repeating 
what had been said, for Dr. Balfour had the reputation of being 
a very ** confused ^ preacher. Mr. Frazer got through it as best 



130 History of Old Cumnock. 

he could, showing no little nervousness in the matter. ^Vhen 
the service was over, Dr. Balfour demanded of Mr. Frazer what 
he meant by putting words into his mouth which he never used, 
and making him say things he had never said ! The experience 
was so disconcerting to Mr. Frazer that he resolved to " pirlecue " 
no more. He gave up the practice and never recurred to it. 

A very close friendship existed between Mr. Frazer and Mr. 
Boyd of Auchinleck. They read the same newspaper together. 
The boy who called at Cumnock manse two or three times a 
week in order to take it to Auchinleck, still lives, an old man 
with many reminiscences of church life in bygone days. 

In 1829 an epidemic of fever raged in Cumnock. Mr. Frazer 
was seized by it, and after a short illness succumbed to it in the 
fourteenth year of his ministry. His last sermon was preached 
at Monkwearmouth, where his illness began to show itself. He 
was able, however, to return home. Mr. Frazer was unmarried. 
The following inscription, taken from his tombstone in the old 
churchyard where he lies buried, will fitly close this sketch of his 
career. It has a special interest from the fact that he is the first 
minister of the parish, whose resting-place in Grod^s acre is marked 
by a memorial stone. It was erected in 1874, and took the place 
of an older stone, which was removed in that year, in order to 
allow room for the twin monuments now standing side by side — 
the one marking the burial place of Mr. Frazer, and the other 
that of Mr. Bannatyne, his successor. 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 131 

In BiEMORY 
OF 

THE Rev. JOHN FRAZER, 

WHO WAS ADMITTED 
TO THE PASTORAL CHARGE OF THIS PARISH, 

ON THE 13 May, 1819, 

AND 

DIED ON 20 Nov. 1829, 

AGED 52 Years. 

Erected 

BY 

THE PARISHIONERS OF CUMNOCK 

IN TOKEN OF THEIR RESPECT FOR HIS WORK AS 

A MAN, 

AND OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS LABOURS 

AS A MINISTER. 



The righUoui shall he held in everUuiing ftmemlnunce, 

(17.) NiNiAN Bannatyne, M.A., was presented to the parish 
by the Marquis of Bute on 10th February, 1830, and ordained 
to the pastorate on 16th September of the same year. His 
father was a shipowner in Rothesay, where the future minister 
was bom in 1802. After serving for a time in a mercantile 
office in Greenock, he passed through the University of Glasgow, 
where he took the regular course of study in Arts and Divinity. 
Many in Cumnock still remember Mr. Bannatyne^s courtly 
appearance and kindly manner. Under a very quiet demeanour 
he possessed great strength of character, so that when the con« 



182 HisTOBY OF Old Cumkock. 



flict with the State for the freedom of the Church cuhninated in 
the Disruption of 1843, Mr. Bannatyne stood firm to the prin- 
ciples he avowed. At the call of conscience, he willingly 
resigned his position and emoluments as a minister of the 
Church established and endowed by law, in order to be minister 
of the Free Church of Scotland in Old Cumnock. Those who 
adhered to him learned all the more to admire him as a man, and 
to love him as a pastor. 

The following extracts from the obituary notice, which 
appeared of him soon after his death in 1874, in the Free Church 
Record from the pen of his nephew, the Rev. Alexander M. 
Bannatyne, describe the salient features of his devoted ministry : — 

^^His close attention to his pastoral charge threatened not 
long after his entrance on the ministry to send him to an early 
grave ; but after a little relaxation and a visit to St. Eilda, his 
health was restored, and he was able till the end of his earthly 
career, to give unremitting attention to the service of the Chief 
Shepherd. 

^^ Diuing the Ten Years^ Conflict, at the Disruption itself and 
ever afterwards till his death, he unflinchingly testified to the 
Headship of Christ over the Church and his Headship over the 
nations. It is believed that he was the very first to make a pub- 
lic sacrifice for these principles ; for in view of the coming Dis- 
ruption, he resigned the office he held as chaplain to the late 
Marquis of Bute, the Lord High Commissioner to the Greneral 
Assembly. 

^ There was almost apostolical fervour and freshness in his 
prayers, particularly at commimion seasons and at the bedside of 



The Minutebs of Cumkock. 18S 

the sick and aged and dying. In the welfare of the young he 
took a deep and practical interest — an interest which was re- 
sponded to by the respect entertained for him by the youngest. 
His preaching was clear, apt and unostentatiously earnest. His 
communion addresses were so full of an unction from the Holy 
One, that they can never be forgotten. All classes felt the influ- 
ence of a modest and ofiice-magnifying Christian life.*" 

Though possessed of an easy literary style, Mr. Bannatyne never 
travelled far in the paths of literature. Two small publications 
only were prepared by him for the press. The one is the valu- 
able description of the parish written in 1887 for the New SicUis- 
Heal Account qf Scotland. The other is a sermon published in 
1844, and entitled Election no Excuse for Man^s Sloth or Sin^ 
but rather a Motive to Holiness. 

The tombstone of *^guid godly Ninian Bannatyne^ bears this 
inscription : — 

In memory 

OF 

Rev, ninian BANNATYNE, 

WHO WAS PAEISH MINISTER FOR 13 AND 
FREE CHURCH MINISTER FOR 80 YEARS 

AT CUMNOCK. 

He was born aT Rothesay, S7th October, 180S, 

EARLY BROUGHT TO ChRIST, 
AND ORDAINED 16tH SEPTEMBER, 1880. 

Testifyino TO Christ^s Headship he came 

OUT AT THE Disruption of 1848, 

AND died SOfh February, 1874. 



1S4 History of Old Cumnock. 

Erected 
by his congregation and a few other 

FRIENDS 

IN REMEMBRANCE OF 

HIS PERSONAL GODLINESS, HIS PERVADING CHARITY, 

HIS SELF-SACRIFICING SPIRIT, HIS CHRISTIAN 

FAITHFULNESS, HIS SYMPATHETIC FORBEARANCE, 

HIS UNASSUMING COURAGE, HIS 

PRAYERFUL TENDERNESS, 

HIS MINISTERIAL ASSIDUITY AND 

HIS LARGE SHARE OF THE MEEKNESS AND 

GENTLENESS OF ChRIST. 



HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH. 



On severing their connection with the Established Church, Mr. 
Bannatjnne and his people built a place of worship in the Ayr 
Road. It was opened on the last Sabbath of October, 184S, by 
the Rev. Archibald Bannatyne of Oban. The congregation 
continued to meet in it till the summer of 1896, when it was 
taken down in order to make room for the handsome building 
now being erected for their use. They owe the beauty of their 
new church to the generosity of Miss Crichton of Hillside, who, 
by- her gift, desired at once to help the congregation and to per- 
petuate the memory of her father, the late Mr. Hew Crichton, and 
of her brother, the late Sheriff Crichton. The church promises 
to be the most beautiful building in the neighbourhood. 

After a vacancy of seven months, the Free Church congrega- 
tion called the Rev. Alexander Adabison, B.D., to be their 



i 


J-'^^Jr-r-^- >?-^ 


1 Lfwll — -^ 


. -i^'^^^' S|-- 


^^ ""■■ i^ 


f 


H^ 


■^m 




s 


H^Hih 


^m 




f 


hI^^vH 


^^^^ 




JRS^^J^^ 


• ^^'-■*f^R3^5^--^^a 



DESION OF NEW FREE CHURCH. 



The Ministers of Cumnock. 185 

pastor. On the 2Srd September, 1878, he was ordained to office, 
and continued to act as minister imtil his translation to Chapel- 
shade Free Church, Dundee, on the 8th June, 1882. Mr. 
Adamson is the author of a small pamphlet entitled, l8 
Christianity possible withmt Miracles f The pi-esent minister of 
the Free Church is the Rev. John Waerick, M.A., who was 
ordained on the 22nd February, 1888. 

On the withdrawal of Mr. Bannatyne in 1843 from the Estab- 
lished Church, the pulpit was filled by the Rev. James Murray, 
a native of Eddleston in Feebleshire. Having studied at Edin- 
burgh University, Mr. Murray acted as assistant for a few 
months at Kirkconnel. Soon after the Disruption, he was 
appointed to Cumnock by the Marquis of Bute. He continued 
his ministry until his death in 1875, at the age of sixty-four. 
He died at Mentone, whither he had gone in the autumn of the 
preceding year for the sake of his health. Mr. Murray pub- 
lished a volume of sermons entitled The Prophefs ManUe : Beinff 
Scenes from the Life ofElisha, He is known also as the author 
oi Songs of the Covenant TimeSy which appeared anonymously in 
1861. His tombstone in the churchyard bears the following 
inscription : — 

In liEMOBY OF 

THE Rev. JAMES MURRAY, 

thirty-one yeabs ministeb 

OF THIS PAmSH, 
WHO DIED AT MeNTONE, F&ANCE, 

SQth January, 1875, and is buried here. 

The present minister of the Established Church is the Rev. 
John S. Robertm)N, who was ordained on the S2nd July, 1875. 



186 History of Old Cumnock. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The United Presbyterian and other Churches, 

The connection of oar Charch with the State we take to be rather accidenta], 
than anj wny necessary to her ecclesiastical constitution. 

^Rsv. GXOBOX MuiR. 

The United Presbyterian Church m Cumnock has played a most 
important part in developing and maintaining the religious life 
of the commimity. Its history has been long and honourable. 
Its ministers have been true exponents of the gospel of Christ, 
and its members have shown themselves steadfast supporters of 
the liberty of the Church of Grod, and genuine believers in the 
doctrines of grace. 

The beginnings of the congregation are difficult to trace, for 
we come upon the existence of Seceders in the parish a consider- 
able time before a minister was settled over them. Mr. Muir^s 
parish roll of 1757 sets down their number at 51, most of whom 
lived in the country. Only four are represented as living in the 
town. 

It is extremely likely that these Seceders attended the means 
of grace at Wallacetown, a little way on the other side of Lugar 
village in the parish of Auchinleck, where one of the old praying 
Societies, founded in the days of the Covenant, existed. The 
place of meeting would be the bam of the farm or some big room 



United Fresbytebian and Otheb Churches. 187 

in the house itself, laid at the disposal of the worshippers by the 
S3anpathetic farmer. Along with many others in the south and 
west of Scotland, this Society had been under the superintendence 
of the Rev. John Hepburn of Urr, whose visits to this district 
have been alluded to in the accoimt of the ministry of Mr. Steel. 
In 1738, the Society at Wallacetown declared its adherence to 
the Associate Presbytery, and on the last Sabbath of June, the 
Rev. Messrs. Nairn and Mair preached at Wallacetown, for the 
purpose of recognising officially the union which had taken 
place. But Secession ministers were few in number at the time, 
and it was not possible to supply ordinances every Sabbath to 
the Wallacetown gathering. The only arrangement that could 
be made, was to put the congregation under the charge of Mr. 
Smjrton of Eilmaurs, who when ordained in 1740, was instructed 
to visit Wallacetown and preach there four times a year. Of 
this we have corroboration in the baptismal register of Kilmaurs 
United Presbyterian Church, which shows that in 1745 children 
in Old Cumnock received baptism at the hands of Mr. Smyton. 
The good people who assembled at Wallacetown were, however, 
advised by the Presbytery to seek a minister in due time for 
themselves, ^^if it shall please the Lord to increase their number.^ 
At length they were formed into a separate congr^ation, inde- 
pendent of Mr. Smjrton^s help. The station at Wallacetown was 
then abandoned, and a little church built in 1756 at the Rigg» 
close to the line of road between Cumnock and Auchinleck. To 
this new church we must suppose the Seceders in our parish made 
their way. The first minister. Rev. Robebt Smtth, was ordained 
over them in 1763. After a ministry of forty-six years he 



138 HiflTOBY OP Old Cumnock. 

resigned in 1809. The fortunes of that church, however, now 
represented by the Original Secession congregation in Auchinleck, 
do not need to be treated here. They lie outside the story of 
our parish and form part of the story of Auchinleck. (Mackelvie^s 
United Presbyterian Churchy p. 404.) 

In the meantime (1747), a great controversy had arisen regard- 
ing the burgess oath, and Seceders were divided into Burghers 
and Antiburghers, according to the view they took of the lawful- 
ness of the oath. The church at the Rigg declared itself Anti- 
burgher. A division among its members could not fail to take 
place. Some at least clave to the rightfulness of taking the 
oath, and these could not remain in fellowship with their Anti- 
burgher brethren. 

What happened next is difficult to say in the absence of docu- 
ments, nor is it possible to be certain about dates. But about 
this time a man of pronounced views and vigorous action ap- 
peared in Cumnock, and was quickly regarded as the leader of 
the Burghers. He came from Glasgow, where he had been 
nurtured on true Burgher doctrine under the ministry of the 
Rev. James Fisher, of Shuttle Street (now Greyfriars), the last 
surviving of the four brethren who acted as founders of the 
Secession Church. Business, evidently, brought this Seceder 
from Glasgow. At any rate he opened a watchmaker's shop, 
and some of the clocks he made a hundred years ago are ticking 
still and keeping good time in Cumnock. His name must 
always be mentioned with respect, for John Rankine stands out 
as the founder of the United Presbyterian Church in our town. 

Rankine soon gathered round him those who were like-minded 



s 



• .^^j 


"^wm 




m 


iK^^ '* 


'(I 


t 


\ 

i 


1 


^ 1 


\ 



United Presbyteriak akd Other Churches. 189 

with himself, and appears even to have persuaded certain mem- 
bers of the Established Church to join him. For by this time 
good Mr. M uir was away in Paisley, and the preaching of his 
successor. Dr. Miller, did not satisfy many who had enjoyed the 
evangelical sermons of Cumnock's most distinguished pastor. It 
would be strange if the Seceder, to whom Mr. Muir refers as 
having come to the town about 1755 and connected himself with 
his ministry, while he still maintained his Secession principles 
and started a prayer-meeting, should be this same John Rankine. 
But no light can be thrown on that point. We may be certain, 
however, that Rankine would not rest until he had his old 
pastor, Mr. Fisher, to preach and give the new cause the help of 
his influence. The result was that he and his friends found 
themselves able to apply to the Burgher Presbytery of Glasgow 
for a regular supply of preachers. This application was granted 
in 1778, and preachers were sent for two Sabbaths in each 
month. 

At first they met in the open air, but in' 1776 they built a 
church on the site occupied by their present place of worship, 
and so became a visible and permanent factor in the religious 
life of the community. The existence of this house of prayer, 
the earliest Nonconformist Church in the town, is still remem- 
bered by some old people. For it was not till 1881 that the 
present commodious church was erected, and the old building 
disappeared. 

An interesting tradition regarding the building of the church 
in 1775 lingers in our midst. The Earl of Dumfries, through 
his factor, refused to give sand for the erection of the church. 



140 History of Old Cumnock. 

To bring it firom a distance was expensive. Just when it was 
needed a great flood arose in the Lugar, which overflowed its 
banks, and deposited on the site of the church a sufiicient quan- 
tity of sand to enable the builder to finish his work. 

Having now a congregation of some size, and a church in 
which to meet, Sankine and his friends in council proceeded to 
secure a minister. And here, perhaps, we see the hand of Mr. 
Fisher, for who should be chosen to be their first minister but 

(1.) James Hall, a member of Mr. Fisher's congregation in 
Glasgow. Mr. Fisher indeed had died a little while before, but 
we need not wonder if he and Rankine had talked over the names 
of likely men, and agreed together that Hall would be the best 
to strengthen the young cause in Ciminock, if the people saw 
their way to call him.. This they did, and on the 16th April, 
1777, at the age of twenty-one, he was ordained over them as 
their minister in the Lord. Mr. Hallos father was tenant of 
Cathcart Mill,.near Glasgow. A younger brother, Robert, be- 
came minister of Eelso. 

The stipend offered by the congregation to their pastor was 
not large. It was only <£6d a year without a manse. Evidently 
this was all they could give, but they felt it was hardly enough. 
Whether it was with a view to increase Mr. Hall's income or not 
we are not told, but in 1781 the session ^^ agreed that the parents 
pay 8d. for the registration of each child in the session register, 
cmd also that their minister charge 2s. 6d. for each marriage 
performed by him, not in his own house or in the church." 
Some of the other articles drawn up at the same time for the 
guidance and government of their people are interesting. Thus, 



UNmED Presbyterian and Other Churches. 141 

^^ persons refusing to take office were to be fined 5s. and be dis- 
qualified for holding any office in the congregation fol- two years." 
And article 17 provided *^ that anyone absenting himself without 
excuse should pay 6d. for each time, and if continued would be 
required to pay such a fine as the managers thought fit to 
impose.'*' We can only hope that from one or other of these 
sources, the worthy Seceders were able to give their minister 
more than 25s. a week. 

Mr. Hall ^^ was not long settled in Cumnock when he was 
called to Well Street, London, but the Synod continued him in 
Cumnock. In the year 1786, being twice called, he was settled 
in Rose Street, Edinburgh. Very great dissatisfaction arose in 
all the other congregations in Ayrshire, as well as in Cumnock, 
from the Synod sanctioning the translation. Not only did the 
Cumnock, but also the Gallowsknowe (Kilmarnock), Tarbolton, 
and Fenwick congregations threaten to leave the denomination, 
because Mr. Hall was allowed to leave Ctunnock.^. This certainly 
was a strong step to take, but it helps to show the wisdom of the 
Seceders in choosing such an able man to be their first minister. 
For nine years they had enjoyed his pulpit and pastoral services. 
Under his preaching they had grown in numbers. His eloquence, 
for he possessed the gift of commanding oratory, attracted great 
audiences whenever he went away from home to officiate. It was 
only to be expected, therefore, that efforts would be made to 
remove him. 

And perhaps when we remember that his congr^ation was 
not drawn simply from our own parish, but that Auchinleck, 
Ochiltree, New Cumnock, Muirkirk, Dalmellington, and Som, 



142 History of Old Cui^fNOCK. 

all sent their quota to his church at Cumnock, we shall not be 
surprised that Mr. Hall thought it right to accept the call to 
Edinburgh, where the distances to be traversed in visiting the 
people were more moderate than he found them to be here. For 
until Mauchline congi'egation w&s founded in 1793, and Catrine 
in 1838, the church in Cumnock was the only representative of 
the Burgher faith in this part of Ayrshire. It drew its members 
accordingly from a very wide area. 

Mr. Hall was inducted to Rose Street, Edinburgh, on the 15th 
June, 1786. The stipend offered to him was only <£*130 with 
house rent. His popularity was so great, that the accommoda- 
tion was found in 1807 to be inadequate for the numbers who 
flocked to his ministry. It was resolved to build a new church, 
but a suitable site was not obtained till 1820. In the following 
year Mr. Hall, who by this time had received the degree of D.D. 
from Queen's College, New York, moved with his congregation 
to their new church, now familiarly known to all Scotland by the 
name of Broughton Place. Here Dr. Hall continued till his 
death, which took place on the 28th November, 1826, in the 71st 
year of his age and the 50th of his ministry. 

(2.) The church in Cumnock was vacant for more than two 
years after the translation of Mr. Hall. In 1787, a call was 
addressed to the Rev. William Watson of Largs, but as a large 
minority in the congregation opposed his settlement and 
threatened to leave if the call were accepted, Mr. Watson very 
. wisely solved the problem by staying where he was. Next year 
the people unanimously asked the Presbytery to settle over them 
the Rev. David Wilson, who had just received license at the 



United Presbyterian and Other Churches. 148 

close of his theological career. On the SOth October, 1788, he 
was ordained to the oversight of the congregation. 

Mr. Wilson was bom in the parish of Cambusnethan in 1754. 
His father, a cooper by trade, was beadle of the Secession Church 
at Davies Dykes, or Bonkle, as it is now called. On Sabbath 
morning as the hour for worship drew near, the father was 
accustomed to go to the top of a rising ground near the church, 
and ring a handbell in order to warn the people who were 
making their way over the moor, that service was about to begin. 
Young David acted for some time as a herd boy, and then helped 
his father in the humble cooper's shop. During his early days 
spent on the hillside, he committed to memory Ralph £rskine'*s 
Gospel Sonnets^ and frequently during his ministry he made use 
of the stores of truth he thus hid in his heart. His struggle to 
gain a ministerial education was long and severe; but his in- 
domitable spirit enabled him to triumph over every difficulty. 
Having completed his studies at Edinburgh University, he pro- 
ceeded to the Divinity Hall, then under the sole charge of 
Professor John Brown of Haddington, on whose death he con- 
tinued his theological training under Dr. Lawson of Selkirk. 

Mr. Wilson soon made his mark in Cumnock, and became 
known as a vigorous evangelical preacher. ** From the first,'' we 
are told, ^^ his fervent manner and address attracted large 
audiences. A commimion season in which Mr. Wilson was ex- 
pected to take part, especially in out-of-door tent preaching 
throughout Ayrshire, brought large audiences. Even the broad 
school at that time who sometimes derided him, could not fail 



144 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

unwittingly to proclaim his praise, saying, ^ There goes Wilson 
of Cumnock with great lumps of the gospel.** 

^* His pastoral duties were unremitting. He visited and 
examined his congregation once a year. In summer according 
to arrangement, he would sometimes visit families about five 
o^clock in the morning, at once to improve his time for his all 
day work afterwards, and secure the people's attendance before 
they went to their several employments. 

** Mr. Wilson was in the habit of catechising children whom 
he met on the highway sometimes. One day meeting a boy on 
the road, he asked him if he could say any questions. * Fm no 
ane o' your folk,' was the boy's quick reply. * No matter,' said 
Mr. Wilson, * if you tell me what is the chief end of man, FU 
give you a penny.' The boy immediately answered the question, 
got his reward, and thanking Mr. Wilson he added, ^ FU maybe 
be ane o' your folk some day.' 

" Mr. Wilson could gently and sometimes successfully rebuke 
sin. One day at ice playing, one man had pronounced an awfiil 
curse upon another who had missed the mark at the game. Mr. 
Wilson who was present could not let this pass unreproved, and 
gently touching the man's shoulder he said, * Surely you were 
not in earnest when you said that.' It took effect, as the man 
was never heard to swear again." (Report of Centenary CelebrcUion 
in Ardrossan Herald^ 8th May^ 1875,) 

Eight years after Mr. Wilson began his ministerial labours, 
his congregation received a considerable accession from the parish 
of New Cumnock. There had just been settled there a clergy- 
man, Mr. Reid, whom the people did not like— one parishioner 



% 



UNmED Pbesbyterian and Otheb Chubches. 145 

attesting that "on a good day in spring, there were only twenty- 
four persons in church." Many families at once severed their 
connection with the Established Church and joined the Secession 
congregation in Cumnock, to which they remained loyal, even 
after a more acceptable minister had succeeded Mr. Reid. 

After having been in Ciminock for about twelve years, Mr. 
Wilson was called to Ayr, but he preferred to continue in his 
first and only charge, though his stipend of <£9d was only half 
the sum offered by the county town. By this time, however, a 
manse had been provided for him on the bankd of the Lugar, on 
the same plot of ground on which the present residence of the 
United Presbjrterian minister is situated. The house, which 
seems to have cost only ,£70, was purchased by the people, "each 
of the 800 members giving one shilling " towards defraying the 
expense. Evidently the congregation had grown in a remark- 
able degree, though doubtless the number 800 includes ad- 
herents. 

The very prosperity which the chiurch enjoyed was made the 
ground, in 1791, of a petition to the Presbytery from those 
members who lived at Catrine, asking that they might be formed 
into a congregation of their own. Though the size of the 
Cumnock congregation was admitted, the prayer of the petition 
was set aside, for this reason among others, that the agricultural 
condition of the district was greatly distressed, "there being 
nearly 50 farms lying in grass, and destitute either of stock or 
inhabitant.**^ 

By and by, the end of Mr. Wilson's ministry drew near. He 
felt himself in failing health and knew that his work was almost 

K 



146 History qf Old Cumnock. 

done. His eagerness to preach continued to the last On the 
17th December, 1822, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and the 
thirty-fourth of his ministry, " well-loved Wilson " went home. 

**His fimeral was attended by a very large concourse of 
people from the village and neighbouring country. Never was 
witnessed,^ says his biographer, ^^a more solemn spectacle. 
Every one seemed so affected in their mournful task, that it 
looked as if they were conveying to the grave one upon whom 
all their hopes in life depended. A neat monument with a 
suitable inscription, marks the spot where his body reposes in 
the hope of a glorious resurrection.'*' It tells that it was 

£bected 

by the congregation 

in testimony 

OF THEIR GRATITUDE 

FOR HIS 
UNWEARIED EXERTIONS 

IN THE PROMOTION OF 
THEIR BEST INTERESTTS. 

Mr. Wilson was survived by his wife, who was a member of 
his own congregation, and to whom he had been married for 
over twenty years. 

Two memoirs of him have appeared. The one, a small pamph- 
let published in 1825 by the Rev. Mr. Walker of Mauchline, 
gives an outline of his life. The other, entitled The Devoted 
MiniOerj was written by the Rev. Peter Meams, of Coldstream, 
ml858. 




United Pbjesbytebian and Other Churches. 147 

(8.) Nearly a year elapsed before a successor to Mr. Wilson 
was appointed. The choice of the congregation fell upon a 
young probationer of the church, named Robert Brown. Bom 
at Whinparky near Eilmamocky on 12th May, 1795, he had 
studied at Selkirk Hall under Dr. Lawson, and at Glasgow 
University under Professor M*Gill. In 1822 he was licensed by 
the Pre8b3rtery of Glasgow, and on 18th November in the follow- 
ing year, ordained to the pastorate of Cumnock. 

Mr. Brown never enjoyed robust health, yet he was able 
during a period of twenty-three years, to prosecute faithfully the 
work of the ministry. His appearance and character have thus 
been briefly sketched by his grandson : — ** Those who remember 
him, and who were children when he died, picture him as a tall, 
dignified, kindly man, who rode on a black pony, and who never 
passed them without a genial smile or kindly word. . . . He 
took a prominent part in doctrinal controversies, but he seems 
to have adhered pretty strictly to the somewhat rigid Calvinism 
which characterized the Scottish theology of his time. There 
are not wanting indications, however, of more liberal views, for 
it was he who allayed the suspicions of the Presb3rtery, when 
they had assembled to hear, and were not unprepared to con- 
demn, Robertson of Irvine^s trials for ordination, by the 
whispered remark, ^That yoimg mem is perfectly orthodox.'^ 
{Life of Rev. James Browriy D.D.y p. 2.) 

About six months before his death, Mr. Brown was totally 
laid aside from work. On the first Sabbath of February, 1847, 
he preached what proved to be his last sermon to his own con- 
gregation. Next Sabbath he tried to conduct the service, but 



l48 Hbtoky or Old Cvkmock. 

broke down. We are told that ** he weit to church and engaged 
in praise and prayer. He also attempted to read a portion of the 
book of God, but becoming EEunt, he was under the necesuty of 
stopping short and sitting down. He rose shortly afterwards 
and gave out the three last verses of the 6Srd Paraphrase, which 
having been sung, he pronounced the benediction. This was his 
last appearance among his own people " {U.P, Magaxine, 1847). 
On the following Sabbath he went, against the advice of his 
fiienda, to assist at a communion in Greenock, where be over- 
taxed his strength by preaching several times. He reached 
home in a state of great prostration. After lingering for five 
mimths, he passed away. His wife, Margaret Andenon, and 
several children survived him. The stone which marks his place 
of burial in the old diurchyard, bears the following appreciative 
inscription : — 

EaECrsD 

■T 

Thb Umitsd PRESHTraauN 

CoKCaEGATIOM, 

CuiDtOCK, 
IN UBHOaT OP 

THE I.ATB 

iUv. ROBERT BROWN, 

WHO DBPABTED THIS UPS OX THX IStH 

July, 1847, ni the 5Snd veae op his 

ACS AKD THE S4tK OF HIS UnOSTSY. 

DUMNO AlS LOXG FEEIOD 

HE LABOUEED DIUGKNTLV AND DEVOTEDLY 

AKOKO A KUMKIOnB AND 

ATTACHED KOrLK. 



> 




United Presbyterian and Other Churches. 149 

He died relyino on Christ^s 

finished wore alone for salvation, 

and bearing testimony 

to the truth of those doctrines 

which he had so faithfully 

preached. 

blessed are the dead 
who die in the 

LORD. 

(4.) Mr. Brown was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rer. 
Matthew Dickie, who was bom on the farm of Raws in the 
parish of Kilmarnock, on 18th May, 1815. When he was only 
eight years of age, his parents, both of whom were noted for 
their Christian worth, removed to the farm of Ploughland, near 
Dundonald, where Matthew attended school, and gave what help 
he could to his father in the work of the farm. By and by, the 
family removed to the parish of Stewarton, and there, at the age 
of twenty, Matthew left the Established Church, to which his 
parents belonged, and joined the Relief Church in the neigh- 
bouring town of Irvine. After resolving to devote his life to 
the public service of Christ, he offered himself to the London 
Missionary Society, but the directors of that Society had so 
many applicants for the foreign field at the time upon their 
lists, that they were compelled to decline his request. 

Amid many difficulties against which he struggled nobly, Mr. 
Dickie completed his studies at the University of Glasgow, after 
which he attended the divinity classes of the Relief Church under 
Professors Lindsay and M^Michael. During his theological 



150 HisTOBT OF Old Cubcnock. 

career he acted as a city missionary in Glasgow. The benefit he 
gained in that capacity was of great value to him in later life. 
He himself says of it : — ^** A month or two of experience among 
the closes of the Grallowgate, is the best commentary which I 
have met with on the deep depravity of human nature.^ 

After the Disruption of 1843, he frequently preached in pulpits 
of the Free Church, whose probationers were not able to overtake 
all the work required of them. On one occasion he preached at 
Dundonaldy where he had been brought up. The interest of the 
people in his sermons w&s so great, that they offered to call him 
as their minister. He felt it to be his duty, however, to keep 
by the church of his choice. In 1847 he was licensed to preach 
the gospel by the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow, just on the eve 
of the union of that denomination with the Secession Church. 
Having declined a call to Walker, near Newcastle, he was or- 
dained minister of the Cumnock Congregation on the 5th July, 
1848. At once he threw himself heartily into his work. 

Mr. Dickie believed in the power of the pulpit. Accordingly 
he prepared thoroughly for the services of the Sabbath. Nothing 
was allowed to interfere with his studies. He regarded the pul- 
pit as the minister'^s throne. Pastoral duty was also carefully 
attended to. He gave his aid freely to the cause of temperance, 
and was president of the local Temperance Society, which flour- 
ished greatly under his guidance. His first attempts at author- 
ship were in connection with the Scottish Temperance League, 
for which he wrote five small tracts. He likewise supplied the 
Scottish Review of October, 1856, with an article on the legal as- 
pects of the temperance question. 



United Presbyterian and Other Churches. 151 

The solid, earnest preaching of Mr. Dickie brought him two 
calls. The first to Canal Street, Paisley, came only two years 
after his ordination. Wisely he set it aside. Seven years later, 
in April, 1857, he accepted an invitation to St. James^ Parade, 
Bristol, and thus severed his connection with Cumnock after a 
ministry of nine years. In Bristol he quickly made a name for 
himself as a preacher and pastor. Ill health, however, began to 
attend him. In 1869 he was completely laid aside from active 
work. On SOth May, 1871, he died at the age of 56. 

A Memoir of Mr. Dickie was published by the Rev. Dr. W. 
M. Taylor of New York, an old co-presbyter in Ayrshire days. 
The volume includes five sermons and a number of poems, chiefly 
religious, which he penned at various periods of his life. Mr. 
Dickie was also the author of Shadowings of Immortality^ and of 
Worhy or the Curse changed into a Blesmig. He is buried in 
Amo's Vale Cemetery, Bristol. His wife, to whom he was mar- 
ried Portly after his ordination, was Miss Stevenson from Kil- 
marnock. 

(5.) The fifth minister of the church, the Rev. William Hutton, 
was bom in Glasgow on 12th August, 18S5. Having completed 
his studies at the University of his native city and at the Divinity 
Hall of his Church, he was called to Cumnock at the early age of 
twenty-two. His ordination took place on 8rd November, 1857. 
After a ministry of twelve years characterized by much faithful 
labour, Mr. Hutton accepted a call to Mofiat, where he was duly 
inducted on 19th October, 1869. Eleven years afterwards, the 
Grange Road congregation in Birkenhead invited him to be col- 
league £Uid successor to the Rev. James Towers. Having accepted 



152 HisTOBY OF Old Cumkock. 

this invitation, he entered upon the duties of his new sphere on 
22nd April, 1880. Mr. Hutton, who still ministers to a large 
congregation in Birkenhead, received a deserved honour in 1898, 
when he was chosen to fill the Moderator's chair of the Presby- 
terian Church of England. 

(6.) The present minister of the United Presbytericui Chiurch 
is the Rev. Alexander McDonald, who was ordained on 10th 
January, 1871. 

The Congregational Church. 

The Congregational Church owes its origin to the personal 
convictions and efforts of the Rev. Greorge Drummond, whose 
career as a missionary in Samoa is elsewhere sketched. About 
the year 1836, a few persons holding the same views, began to 
gather along with him on the Lord's Day for public worship. 
They formed themselves into a congregation, which slowly gained 
in strength, until in August 1840, they were able to call as their 
first pastor, the 

(1.) Rev. Mr. Sime, whose ministry, however, was too brief to 
allow them to overcome all the difficulties they had to face. 
After remaining for two years Mr. Sime resigned. 

(2.) In 1844 the members were fortunate in securing the 
services of the Rev. P. W. Grant, who continued to act as 
minister for nine years. The memory of his high character and 
faithful work lingers till the present day. Hitherto the congre- 
gation had met in a hall belonging to the Black Bull Hotel, but 
during Mr. Grant's incumbency a great step was taken in the 



United Presbyterian and Other Churches. 158 

purchase, for JSlOOj of a building on the north side of the Square 
as a place of worship. 

Owing to a change in his views on In&nt Baptism, Mr. Grant 
at length found it necessary to resign his pastorate, and to attach 
himself to the Baptist denomination. In this connection he 
acted first as minister of the Baptist Church in Cupar, and then 
for fourteen years in Darlington. Thereafter he retired from 
active service, cmd took up his residence in Perth, where he still 
lives. Mr. Grant has devoted his leisure time largely to study, 
and has issued through the press several volumes of theology. 
He is the author of 7^ Bible Record of Creation True for every 
A gey TTie Great Memorial NamCy and The Revekdion of John. 

(S.) In 1858 the Rev. John M^Auslane became pastor, and 
remained for eleven years, when he accepted a call to Stratford. 
Mr. M^Auslane published a small pamphlet entitled 7%e Young 
Student. At the time of his death he was minister of the church 
at Garliestown. His successors down to the present time, can 
only be noticed in the briefest way. 

(4.) Rev. Thomas Brisbane, formerly minister of Duncanstone, 
was settled in 1866, and after a pastorate of six years removed to 
Cambuslang. 

(5.) Rev. John Murray, who followed, resigned in 1876 on 
account of his adoption of Baptist views. 

(6.) Rev. Francis Lamb was inducted in 1877, but left after a 
ministry of four years for America. 

(7.) Rev. Andrew N. Scott, who accepted the pastorate in 
188S, resigned in 1884. After being engaged in work at Sullom, 



154 History of Old Cumnock. 

in the Shetland Isles for some years, he accepted a call to Ruther- 
glen, in February 1899. 

(8.) The present minister, Rev. William Matheson, formerly 
at Stuartfield, where he was ordained in 1878, entered upon his 
charge here on the 6th October, 1884. 

The congregation has a beautiful little place of worship opened 
in 1883 at the cost of .£1600. A manse adjoining the church 
was erected at a later date. Their old church in the Square was 
bought by the Clydesdale Bank. 

Other religious denominations make their appeal as well to 
the commimity. A Baptist Chapel was built in 1887. A small 
Episcopal place of worship exists within the grounds of Glais- 
noek House, but service is rarely held in it. A Roman Catholic 
Chapel was erected by Lord Bute in 188S. 

In addition to the ministers who have been located in Cum- 
nock, it may be interesting to mention the names of those who 
have gone out from the parish, to serve in the Church of Christ 
elsewhere. It is only possible to give the merest outline of their 
history. The list is long, but it is right to say that, while most 
of those included in it can claim connection with Cumnock by 
birth or long residence, a few lived outside the limits of the 
parish. This is the case especially with several who have pro- 
ceeded from the United Presbyterian congregation. They are 
noticed here, however, because, though residing in neighbouring 
parishes, their church connection was with Cumnock. As far as 
possible the parish of their birth is given. The names are put 
down in order according to the date of ordination. 



United Paesbyterian and Other Churches. 155 

(!•) Allan Logan (See under " Notable Men**). 

(2.) George Logan, (do., do.) 

(3.) Hugh Crichton was ordained to Dnntocher U.P. Church 
on 16th January, 1826. He was translated to Liverpool on 
18th April, 1888, and foiu* years later received the degree of 
D.D, from the University of Glasgow. He died on 14th 
January, 1871, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His funeral 
sermon, preached by Rev. James Towers of Birkenhead, was 
published under the title of The Minister's Hope. 

(4.) Alexander Lamrie (Auchinleck) entered the United 
Secession Hall in 182S, but joined the Original Secession 
Chiux^h, and became minister of the congregation at Pitcaim- 
green in 18S9. In 1842 he declined to unite with the Original 
Burghers, and separated from the Synod. After the congrega- 
tion at Pitcaimgreen died out, he removed to Edinburgh, where 
he ministered to a few persons who agreed with his theological 
position. He published one or two pamphlets on the principles 
and government of the O. S. Church. 

(5.) George Welsh (New Cumnock) entered the United 
Secession Hall in 1826. He proceeded to India as a missionary 
under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, but died, 
soon after his arrival. 

(6.) John Aird began his theological studies in 1830, and was 
ordained to Muirkirk U.P. Church in 1882. Four years after- 
wards he resigned, and joined the R.P. Synod as a probationer, 
but obtained no pastorate in that connection. 

(7.) Alexander E[ennedy (New Cumnock) entered the Secession 
Hall in 1830. He was sent to Trinidad as a missionary in con- 



156 HurroRT of Old Cumkock. 

nection with Greyfriars^ Congregation, Glasgow. After labour- 
ing there for fourteen years, he went to Canada for the sake of 
his health in 1849, and was called to a charge in Darlington, 
which he accepted. A few years later he removed to Dimbarton, 
near Toronto, where he ministered for thirty years. On retiring 
from active service through old age, he settled in Welland, where 
he died on 19th January, 1892, at the age of 88. Mr. Kennedy 
wrote a series of articles in the Canadian Presbyterian Magazinej 
describing ^^ Scenes and Sabbaths in Scotland^ in his early d&js. 

(8.) Hugh Baibd (Som), was ordained to Cumbernauld U.P. 
Church on 6th December, 1837, and died on 10th September, 
1879. He was the author of Words in Season^ Beaten Oiljbr the 
Light of Life 9 and Caatlecary and the Great Roman Wall. 

(9.) George Drummond (See imder " Notable Men.'^) 

(10.) James S. Johnson was appointed to the Established 
Church of Cambuslang in 1843. He continued to be minister 
till his death in November, 1881. In 1875 he received the 
degree of D.D. from Glasgow University. 

(11.) James Samson was bom in 1811. After serving for 
some time as a box-painter, he completed his Arts curriculum 
and entered the U.P. Hall. On the suspension of Rev. James 
Morison of Kilmarnock in 1841, he joined the Congregational 
Church. For a time, he acted as tutor to Sir Wilfrid Lawson 
and conducted service in the chapel at Blennerhasset in Cumber- 
land. Thereafter he was settled in Newcastle, whence he was 
transferred to Sheemess Congregational Chapel, in which he re- 
mained for eighteen years. Having retired to his native place. 



i 



United Pbesbytebian and Otueb Churches. 157 

he died on 28rd March, 1886. A tablet is erected to his memory 
in Sheemess Chiuch. 

(12.) David Johnston was called to the pastorate of Suffolk 
Street Congregational Church, Glasgow, in 1850. He went 
afterwards to Australia, where he died. 

(18.) John Weir was ordained to Crossford U.P. Church in 
1850. He retired from the ministry in 1875, and lives now in 
Ayr. 

(14.) Robert Black was settled in Kilsyth Free Church in 1854. 
After a ministry of thirty-four years, he died on 17th November, 
1888. 

(15.) James B. Johnston became pastor of the Congregational 
Chmrch in Nairn, in 1859. Subsequently he was settled in Great 
Hamilton Street Church, Glasgow, and afterwards in Grarliestown, 
Wigtonshire, where he died in 1883. 

(16.) J. W. MacTurk, B.A., was connected with the U.P. 
Church, but joining the Established Church, was ordained to 
Langholm in 1854, and died 26th December, 1878. 

(17.) James Brown, D.D. (See imder " Notable Men.") 

(18.) Robert Campbell (New Cumnock) was ordained to Calton 
U.P. Church, Glasgow, in 1863. He is the author of Lazarus, 
Jezebel J David Weir^ farmer^ elder y and saini ; and also of Ivie 
and other Poems. 

(19.) Adam B. Rogerson went to Burray, Orkney, in 1865, as 
minister of the U.P. congregation. He is now settled in Banff. 

(SO.) Robert Smith (Auchinleck) was ordained to the East 
U.P. Church, Kinross, in 1874. 



158 History of Old Cumnock. 

(21.) Matthew M. Dickie, B.D., son of the Rev. Matthew 
Dickie of the U.P. Church, became minister of the East U.P. 
Church, Haddington, in 1876. After a pastoraiie of some years 
he resigned through ill health. 

(2S.) Matthew Dickie, M. A. (Errol), was ordained to Sanquhar 
U.P. Church in 1879. 

(S8.) James K. Scott, B.D. (New Cumnock), was ordained to 
Fraserburgh U.P. Church in 1879. 

(24.) Robert £. Welsh, M.A. (New Cumnock), proceeded to 
Japan in 1880 as a missionary. After a brief stay he returned 
home, and was appointed to Harrogate in the English Presby- 
terian Church. He is now minister of Brondesbury, London. 
Mr. Welsh, in addition to many magazine articles, is the author 
of Romance qf Psalter and Hymnal^ In Belief of Doubtj The 
People amd the Priest^ and God's Gentlemen. 

(S6.) John Bevebidoe, B.D., was settled in 1882 in Stow U.P. 
Church. A few years later he accepted a call to Wolverhampton. 

(26.) Andrew B. Dickie, M.A. (Girvan), became minister of 
Huntly U.P. Church in 1883. 

(27.) William W. Beveeidge was ordained to Princes St. U.P. 
Church, Port-Glasgow, in 1883. 

(28.) Alexander Welsh (New Cumnock), went to South Africa 
in connection with the Gordon Memorial Mission. He became 
an ordained missionary of the U.P. Church in 1884, and is now 
settled at Emgwali, Kaf&aria. 

(29.) Andrew M. Smith, M.A., became minister of Safironhall 
U.P. Church, Hamilton, in 1888. In 1891 he was translated to 



United Pbesbyterian and Other Churches. 159 

Trinity Church, Sunderland, and again in 1895 to Darlington 
Place, Ayr. 

(30.) James McQueen ( Auchinleck), after completing his studies 
at Aberdeen F.C. College in 1887, went out to Australia, where 
he is now ordained. 

(81.) Adam Drummond was ordained to the pastorate of Port 
Erroll Congregational Church in 1891. He removed to Macduff 
in 1895. 

(82.) Alexander M^Carlie (Som), went out to Western 
Australia under the auspices of the Free Church, and was ordained 
at Perth in 1896. In September, 1898, he removed to Cottesloe 
in the same colony. 

(88.) Hugh Climie was called to the Established Chiut^h of 
Meigle in 1897, and ordained the same year. 

(84.) Thomas Wardrop, M.A. (Greenock), became minister of 
the Presbjrterian Church in Ashington, Northumberland, in 1898. 



M 



160 HisTOAY OF Old Cumkock. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 



Surely if Gk>d ooold be tied to % spot, it would, methinlu, be to the moon of 
SGotl«nd ; the moases and the mountains of the west are flowered with martyrs. 

— Remwiek, 

The martyr stones of Cumnock bear abiding testimony to the 
part our parish played in the old days of Claverhouse, when the 
Stuart kings, with a foolishness almost unparalleled in history, 
tried to force Episcopacy on Presbjrterian Scotland at the point 
of the sword. The story of the Covenanters is told in its broad 
features in the general history of our country. Its details are 
given in a popular form in books like Gleanings among the 
MountainSj which proceeded from the graphic pen of Simpson of 
Sanquhar. He and others who have worked along the same 
lines, are largely indebted to such valuable productions as those 
of the Wodrow Society. In addition, John Howie of Lochgoin 
in his memorable Scots Worthies, has given us much interesting 
material, which would have been lost but for his wise and patient 
labour. Bums sympathetically sings, 

" The Solemn League and Covenant 
Cost Scotland blood, cost Scotland tears." 



r 
t 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 161 

Some of Scotland'^s best blood was poured out on the fields 
around us, and bitter tears were shed at our door by widows and 
orphans, when the fatal shot was fired, which robbed them of 
those who were at once dear to them and dear to God. It will 
suffice for our purpose, if we first speak of the martyred dead in 
our own parish, and then tell of some sufferers belonging to 
Cumnock whose dust lies elsewhere, weaving into the story, as 
occasion requires, other threads of information which will let us 
see still more clearly, how sorely our ancestors were pressed by 
their ruthless enemies. 

The most pathetic case of martyrdom in Cumnock was that of 
Thomas Richard, who was shot and biuied at the Grallows Knowe. 
He did not belong to our parish, but was tenant of the farm of 
Greenock Mains in the parish of Muirkirk. At the time of his 
death he was about eighty years of age. Though he never seems 
to have taken an active part in bearing arms in support of the 
Covenanting cause, he had rendered himself obnoxious to the 
political authorities, by his kindness to those who were hunted by 
the dragoons. His personal piety was well-known. 

Before he was finally captured, the troopers had been on the 
watch for him. Led by the infamous Bonshaw, they came one 
dark night to his house, in order to apprehend him. So deep 
was the darkness, that Richard was able to escape. If the dark- 
ness on that occasion could not be felt, it was at least long 
remembered, for it gave rise to the saying among the hill-folk, 
when a night of special gloom was experienced, ^^ It^s as mirk as 
Bonshaw'^s nicht.*** Undeterred by the danger which he ran, the 
good femner of Greenock Mains continued his work of harbouring 



162 History of Old Cumnock. 

the persecuted preachers. It was accordingly determmcd to 
tolerate him no longer. 

A Royalist officer, Peter Inglis by name, with four or five 
followers pretending to be Covenanters, sought admission one 
evening to his home. Richard, most unsuspicious, warmly wel- 
comed them. They tried to carry the work of deception so far 
as to ask him to engage in prayer. As conversation proceeded, 
the identity of his visitors became apparent. They had been too 
long accustomed to swear like troopers, to be able to restrain the 
evil habit in a moment. An oath from one of them revealed the 
secret. At once they declared him to be their prisoner, and 
hurried him off to Cumnock, where Colonel James Douglas, 
brother of the Duke of Queensberry, was stationed. Without 
the slightest semblance of trial, Douglas sentenced him to be 
shot next day. The fatal order was duly carried out, not, 
however, without a kind-hearted attempt to save the life of the 
old man. Three ladies, who favoured Episcopacy, petitioned the 
Colonel in his behalf. Their entreaties were in vain. Douglas 
sent to them only the cruel answer, that he would shew no mercy 
to any Covenanter. It would have been commendable if the 
minister of Cumnock had supported these ladies in their petition. 
His silence is explained by the f€u;t that the incumbent in 1685 
was Samuel Nimmo, who had himself no love for Presbyterian 
worship, or the Covenanting cause. 

The inscription on Richard's tombstone runs as follows : — 



i 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 163 

Here lies 

THE COEPSE OF 

THOMAS RICHARD, 

WHO WAS SHOT BY CoLONEL JaMES DoUGLAS 

FOR HIS ADHERENCE 

TO THE Covenanted work of Reformation, 

ON THE 5th day OF ApRIL, 

Anno 1685. 



Halt, Passenger, this stone doth show to thee 
For what, by whom, and how I here did die. 
Becanse I always in my station 
Adhered to Scotland's Reformation, 
And to our sacred Covenant and Laws, 
Establishing the same : which was the cause. 
In time of prayer I was by Dooglas shot. 
Ah, omelty never to be f oigot. 

A month after Richard was martyred, two other Covenanters 
were slain, and, like him, buried at the Gallows Hill. An old 
headstone guards their dust. One was David Dun, the other 
Simon Paterson. Little is known of Paterson. According to 
Mr. Murray in his Songs qf the Covenant Times (pp. 205-6), 
Dun belonged to Selkirkshire, where he distinguished himself in 
a conflict with the arch-flend. The incident is thus recorded : — 
^^ A curious rhyme, which used to be recited by old people living 
near the source of the Ettrick and Yarrow, has served to connect 
the name of David Dunn with a dismal precipitous ravine, situ- 
ated a little further towards the Lochs of the Lowes and St. 
Mary^s than the Grey Mare^s Tail, between Moffatdale and 



164 HisTOAT OF Old Cumnock. 

Yarrow, where persecuted wanderers sometimes found shelter. 
Few places can wear a more savage and dreary aspect than 
DobVs Linn. . . . The old rhyme, which associates the 
memory of David Dunn with that gloomy place, was never 
framed by an adherent of the Covenant. More probably it 
emanated from some facetious curate in the neighbourhood. It 
is here quoted because it serves to show, after a fashion, that 
David Dunn was a noted champion of the Covenant, and that 
popular belief ascribed to him and his confederates, occasional 
triumphs over the arch-instigator of oppression in person. 
David'^s ally on the present occasion was one Halbert Dobson, 
and their victory over the foul fiend is celebrated as follows : — 

" LitUe kent the worricow 
What the Covenant could dow ! 
What o' faith an' what o' fen, 
What o' might an' what o' men ; 
Or he had never shown his face, 
His reiket rags and riven taes, 
To men o' mak and men' o' mense, 
Men o' grace and men o' sense ; 
For Hab Dob an' Davie Dinn 
Dang the deevil owre Dob's Linn. 

•* • Weir,' quo* he, and * Weir,* quo' he, 
* Hand the Bible till his e'e ; 
Ding him owre or thrash him doon, 
He's a fause, deceitful loon.' 
Then he owre him, and he owre him, 
Ue owre them, and they owre him : 
Habbie held him griff and firm, 
Davie threush him lith and limb. 
Till like a bunch o' barkit skins, 
Doon fell Satan owre the linns." 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 166 

Additional information regarding this conflict is furnished by 
the Ettrick Shepherd in his weird poem, Mess John. Dun 
and his friend contrived to place a hank of red yam, in the form 
of crosses, on the path by which Satan came. Over these sacred 
symbols he could not step. On his appearing, they got behind 
him and attacked him resolutely, each with a Bible in one hand 
and a rowan tree staff in the other. With such weapons they 
" fairly beat the prince of heU.*" 

A little while before Dim and his friend suffered martyrdom, 
they passed through a memorable experience not far from the 
village of Wanlockhead. Along with four other Covenanters, 
they were hiding from a band of troopers, who were known to be 
in search of them. Their retreat was discovered. Dun, Pater- 
son, and one of their companions were speedily arrested. No 
sooner, however, had their captors laid hold on them than a 
thimderstorm of extraordinary violence burst over their heads. 
The blaze of the lightning, the crash of the thimder, and the 
roaring of the rain frightened both man and beast. The horses 
of the troopers became unmanageable, and scampered off with 
their riders in all directions. The prisoners, finding themselves 
in imexpected freedom, made good use of the opportunity to 
escape. They succeeded in reaching the wild uplands of 
Gralloway, whence they emerged a few weeks later to attend a 
conventicle, held by Renwick near Dalmellington. They were 
on their way northward from this gathering, when they were 
seized on the slopes of Corsegellioch. It is said that Dun had 
almost escaped, when, through the sinking of his horse in the 
moss, he became an easy prey. The two friends were at once 



166 HisTOAY OF Old Cumnock. 



dragged to Cumnock. No long shrift was granted. The 
muskets of the Highlanders were levelled at their heads, and 
from the preaching of Renwick about the King, they passed at 
once into the presence of the King. 

Some confusion exists as to the exact way in which these men 
suffered martyrdom. Wodrow sa3rs that they were hanged. 
The inscription on their tombstone, however, which states that 
they were shot, must be regarded as settling the question. The 
inscription itself may be given. Its ungrammatical character 
shows that, Hke many other similar inscriptions, it was engraved 
by men who, while they loved the Covenanting cause, were not 
remarkable for their scholarship. It runs in this way : — 

Here lyes David Dun 
AND Simon Paters 

ON, WHO WAS shot 
IN THIS PLACE BY 
A PARTY OF HiGHL 

anders for ther 
adherance to the 
Word of God and 
THE Covenanted 
Work of Reforma 
TioN. 1685. 

According to a fairly well-authenticated tradition, this inscrip- 
tion was re-cut by " Old Mortality.*" The depth and size of the 
lettering are quite in keeping with the work of Robert Paterson, 



Cumnock and thx Covenant. 167 

whose interest in the graves of the Covenanters gained for him 
the quaint name by which he is now chiefly remembered. 

Before we pass from the story of Dun, it ought to be noticed 
that there were many of this name in Ayrshire, who nobly strove 
for the liberty of the Church of Christ. One section of the 
family occupied the farm of Closs or Class in the parish of Ochil- 
tree. In the list of Covenanters denounced as rebels in 1684 by 
the Grovemmenty appears the name of David Dun of Closs. It 
is quite possible, after all, that Dun may not have been a native 
of Selkirkshire, but having been bom and brought up in Ochil- 
tree parish, made his way to that coimty for the sake of personal 
safety. Strength is given to this supposition by the fact, that at 
this very time Margaret Dun of Closs was shot when on her way 
to Cumnock, to find out the fate of her brother David, who had 
been taken prisoner. This circumstance invests the old stone 
with new interest, and connects the martyr it commemorates with 
our own locality. 

The Gallows Sjiowe is also the resting-place of Alexander 
Peden, commonly known as ^^ The Prophet.^ As far as we can 
learn, there are few incidents in his life which connect him with 
Cumnock. His chief claim for recognition is based on the fact, 
that he received groimd from us in which to be buried. No 
slight honour is thereby conferred on our town. It would take 
us beyond our present purpose, if we were to give a full account 
of Peden's doings and experiences. These are almost too well- 
known to require recapitulation. A few notes will suffice, culled 
chiefly from the Scots Worthies. 



168 History of Old Cumnock. 

Alexander Peden was bom at Auchincloich, in the parish of 
Som, in 1626. After his studies at the University were com- 
pleted, he acted as schoolmaster, precentor, and session-clerk in 
Tarbolton. A little before the Restoration in 1660, he was 
ordained to the ministry in New Luce in Gralloway, but two 
years later, he was deprived of his charge on refusing to conform 
to Prelacy. In 1666 he accompanied Colonel Wallace, the leader 
of the small Covenanting army, on his way through Ayrehire to 
Pentland. For some reason, he left the army before it reached 
the fatal field. This step he afterwards bitterly regretted. As 
Wallace passed through Cumnock, and probably remained in it 
some hours, Peden would be seen on our streets. 

After moving about in different parts of the south-west of 
Scotland, he was seized in 1673 and carried to Edinburgh, where 
he was sentenced to be confined on the Bass Rock. Having re- 
mained in his island prison for some time, he was condemned in 
December, 1678, along with sixty other Covenanters, to be 
banished to America. The exiles, who embarked at Leith, 
reached Gravesend, where they were to be transferred to a ship 
bound for Virginia. As the story goes, the skipper, finding out 
who his passengers were, declined to take them. Perhaps the 
fact, that Lord Shaftesbury interested himself in them, gives us 
a hint as to the true cause, why their voyage to the New World 
came abruptly to an end. The result, at any mte, was that they 
were liberated. 

On his return to Scotland, immediately after the battle of 
Both well Bridge in 1679, Peden paid a visit to Ireland, but 
speedily came back to his native country. We find him in 1682 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 169 

officiating at the marriage of John Brown, the Priesthill carrier. 
For the next three years he seems to have been again in Ireland. 
He longed, however, to be back in Scotland. At length he was 
able to carry out his wish. Lord Fountainhall, in his Historical 
Noticesj thus indicates the manner of his return. ^^ News came 
to the Privy Counsell that about 100 men well armed and 
appointed, had left Ireland, because of a search there for such 
malcontents, and landed in the West of Scotland and jojmed with 
the wild phanatiques. . . . They had one Mr. Pedan a 
minister with them, and one Isaack who commanded them. They 
had frighted the most part of all the country ministers, so that 
they durst not stay at their churches, but retired into Edinburgh 
or garrison tounes ; and it was sad to see whole shires destitute 
of preaching except in brughs. Wherever they came they 
plundered armes, and particularly at my Lord Dumfijes^s house.^ 
(VoL n., p. 680). The date is 27th March, 1686. 

This notice is full of interest Lord Fountainhall had no 
sympathy with the Covenanters, but his statement may be 
regarded as thoroughly reliable. We can only take exception to 
the phrase ** wild phanatiques.^ His remarks prove that Peden 
was actually in our parish at the time, though the presence of 
Colonel Douglas, who was to shoot Thomas Richard a few days 
later, may have prevented him from preaching. The 100 men 
who were with him, were probably fellow-countrymen returning 
from Ireland, where they had taken refrige for a time. The 
plundering of Lord Dumfries^ house, even though Peden 
approved of it, is not a matter we need be careful to explain or 
defend. Fountainhall plainly states that only arms were carried 



170 History of Old Cumnock. 

o£P. It is enough to say that the Covenanters had been forced 
to take up a position of hostility towards the Government of the 
day. Lord Dumfries was an active supporter of that Grovem- 
ment. Warfare pays no attention to the rights of property. 
That these men carried away only arms from Lefnoreis and other 
places which they ransacked, is an indication on their part of a 
spirit of self-restraint and moderation, only too seldom shown by 
their opponents. 

Many stories are told of the narrow escapes Peden had from 
his pursuers. On one occasion his strength was nearly gone. 
Those with him dreaded capture. Peden stopped and said, 
" Let us pray.^ Then he said, " Lord, it is Thy enemy'^s day, 
hour, and power; they may not be idle. But hast Thou no 
other work for them but to send them after us ? Send them 
after them to whom Thou wilt give strength to flee, for our 
strength is gone. Twine them about the hill, Lord, and cast 
the lap of Thy cloak over old Sandy and thir poor things, and 
save us this one time ; and well keep it in remembrance, and 
tell it to the commendation of Thy goodness, pity, and com- 
passion.'^ Immediately a cloud of mist hid them from their 
pursuers, and a summons came to the troopers to go in quest of 
Renwick and a great company with him. 

Towards the end of his life Peden could not be prevailed upon 
to preach much. He said, "It is a time for prayer; it is praying 
folk that will get through the storm.*" John Howie tells us that 
his " last sermon was preached in the Collimwood, at the Water 
of Ayr, a short time before his death.'' Feeling his end 
appro€u;hing, he retired to a little cave on the banks of the 



Cumnock and the Covxnant. 171 

Lugar, close to its junction with the Dippol Bum. The cave, 
which is still pointed out, was at no distance from the fiurm 
house of Ten-shillingside, in the parish of Mauchline, of which 
Peden's brother was tenant. The persistence of the dragoons, 
however, seems to have driven him from his hiding-place, and 
he came early one morning to his brother'*s house. Two days 
after, he quietly died, and the noble spirit of Peden, martyr in 
all but the name, went back to Grod who gave it. 

He was buried in the chiux^yard of Auchinleck, in ground 
where many others of the name of Peden have also been laid. 
The Scots Worthies makes a mistake in saying that the family 
vault of the Boswells received his honoured remains. The 
barons of Auchinleck would hardly open the door of the house, 
which contained their dead, in order to admit a persecuted 
Covenanter. But his body was not allowed to remain long, where 
friendly hands had placed it. He himself is said to have pre- 
dicted a few days before his death, that it would be subjected to 
ignominy, by being exhumed and carried to a place of shame. 
This actually took place. Six weeks after his burial, the troopers 
from the garrison of Som, chagrined at their failure to shoot him 
as they had shot Cameron, gathered in the Auchinleck church- 
yard, and raising his mouldering body, carried it to the Grallows 
Hill of Cumnock. It was their purpose to hang it on the gibbet 
erected there, but this ghastly intention they were not permitted 
to put into eflFect. For the Earl of Dumfries, urged by his 
Countess, told Murray the leader of the dragoons, that ^^ the 
gibbet was erected for malefactors and murderers, and not for 
such men as Peden.^ Forbidden thus to accomplish their shock- 



172 History of Old Cumnock. 

ing plan, they made no attempt to take the remains of Peden 
back to Auchinleck. In order, rather, to show their contempt 
for him and his doings, they buried him at the gallows^ foot 
By and by, our forefathers, pressed to find another place to serve 
as the acre of God, than that which had received the dust of 
generations round the old church, selected the spot which had 
been consecrated by the burial of the Covenanting ** Prophet** 

Eer of Eersland, who wrote with the knowledge of a contem- 
porary, states in his Memoirs^ that ^^the Cameronians have erected 
a monument** in memory of Peden. That first stone, which 
marked his grave, has long since disappeared. Its place was 
taken by a plain tombstone, the inscription on which is as 
follows : — 

Hebe lies 
Mb, ALEXANDER PEDEN, 

FAITHFUL MINISTER OF THE 

GOSPEL 

SOME TIME 

AT GlENLUCE, 

WHO DEPARTED THIS MORTAL LIFE 

THE 26th OF January, 1686, 

AND WAS RAISED AFTER SIX WEEKS 

OUT OF THE GRAWF, 

AND BURIED HERE 

OUT OF 

CONTEMPT. 

Memento Mori. 




HORN TREEP. 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 178 

In 1891, a handsome monument of Aberdeen granite, too 
ornamental perhaps to be the most fitting kind of memorial to 
such a weird, rugged man as Peden, was erected by public sub- 
scription. Over his grave stand still two thorn trees, planted 
long ago by some forgotten hand. Though now showing signs 
of age, they continue year by year, in answer to the gentle voice 
of spring, to put on their beautiful garments of green, and to fill 
the air with the fragrance of their snow-white blossoms. 

A curious tradition connected with them lingers in our midst. 
Peden was frequently in the habit of speaking of dark dajrs 
coming upon Scotland, and he freely associated the name of the 
French, with the coming of these days. For some reason it was 
believed in Cumnock, that the words of Peden about our neigh- 
bours across the Channel would be fulfilled, and the French over- 
run Scotland, if the thorn trees were allowed to intertwine. 
Accordingly, year after year, the women of the town were 
accustomed to go to Peden^s grave, and jealously cut off all 
branches that seemed about to interlace. The practice has long 
since died out, but perhaps, the vitality of the historic trees has 
been in some measure secured by the pruning process, to which 
they were thus regularly subjected. 

It is interesting to remember, too, that the Irish shearers, who 
came here in autumn long ago, were in the habit of canying 
home with them little twigs of the thorn trees. Visitors to 
Cumnock, from other districts also, showed in the same way their 
interest in the resting-place of Peden. 

The idea of a French invasion of Scotland, as a judgment 
from Gkxl, seems to have been a common article of belief among 



174 History of Old CuifNocir. 



the Covenanters. Not only is Peden reported to have said, 
*^ Oh, the monzies, the monzies will be thorow the breadth and 
length of the South and West of Scotland. Oh, I think I see 
them at our fireside, slaying man and wife and children ; the 
remnant will get a breathing, but they will be driven to the 
wilderness again, and their sharpest showers be last,^ (Duncan'*8 
Life ofPedeuy p. S8), but Cameron also, in a sermon preached at 
Grasswater eighteen days before his death, alludes to it. ^ The 
rod,^ he says, ^* that the Lord will make instrumental in this, 
will be the French and other foreigners, together with a party in 
this land joining them.'' (Scots Worthies^ p. 836). The fear of 
such a national disaster survived in the parish, till after the 
middle of the nineteenth century. Little children used to talk, 
with bated breath, of Schankiston wood running with blood up 
to the horses' bridles. They had heard the old prophecy from 
their mothers' lips. 

Certain relics, connected by tradition with Peden, were formerly 
in the district. Mr. Murray {Songs of the Covenaittj p. S02), 
tells us that a Mrs. Cooper, who lived in a cottage at Mossend, 
on the slopes of Corsegellioch, had in her possession several 
articles, said to have belonged to Peden. There was his wig, and 
also his ^' fause face," with which he used to disguise himself, and 
which Mr. Murray describes as a very "portentous looking" 
thing. In addition, there were a short rapier in a leathern 
sheath, a stick with a whistle on the top, and an oval-shaped, 
metal tobacco box. Mrs. Cooper was a descendant of Peden's 
brother. There is likewise a pistol in the possession of Mr. 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 175 

Murray of Carston, which is believed on good authority to have 
been carried by the great Covenanter. 

Peden did not write much. One or two of his sermons, as well 
as some letters from his pen, notably one to the prisoners con- 
fined in Dunottar Castle, will be found in Miss Jean L. Watson's 
Life cmd Times of Rev. Alexander Peden. 

The following lines composed by Professor Blackie, who took a 
leading part in the ceremony at the inauguration of Peden^s 
monument, are a fitting tribute to his courage and his faith : — 

Here let me stand, beneath the sacred shade 

Of these twin thorns, that shield a prophet's bones I 

I have stood high on monumental stones, 

Where Memphian kings, angast, made high parade, 

Not moved as here. My loves are with the braves, 

Who stand erect for freedom and for right. 

When rampant pride, harsh law, and sworded might 

Would crush out thought, and stamp all men for slaves ; 

And such was Peden. In the day when kings 

Claimed right divine to murder honest men. 

And venal bishops flapped their vulture wings 

O'er Qod's dear souls, hounded from glen to gleo, 

Peden stood firm ; and to his faith then shown. 

We owe that now we call our souls our own. 

Only one other martyr stone lies within our parish. Its story 
is interesting. In June, 1688, the Rev. David Houston, a Cove- 
nanting minister whose sphere of labour was principally in the 
north of Ireland, was being conveyed by troopers through Ayr- 
shire, in order to be tried at Edinburgh. He had been im- 
prisoned for six months already in Dublin. The men of our dis- 
trict, who knew him by name, at least, through his connection 
with Renwick whom he assisted for a time, resolved to rescue 



176 History of Old Cumnock. 



him. The attempt was made just beyond the confines of Cum- 
nock parish. The exact spot is well-known by the name of Bello 
Path. The dragoons reached Cumnock on the 19th of June. 
They halted all night at the Blue Tower, a building now 
removed, but used then as an inn. Its situation was in Tower 
Street, which obtained its name from it. 

During the night, the loyal Covenanters of Cumnock gathered 
together in the narrow pass of the Bello, and as soon as the 
dragoons appeared, opened fire on them. The rescue was suc- 
cessful ; the soldiers were routed, leaving some of their number 
dead. The minister, whose feet were tied beneath his horse^s 
belly, suiFered in the fray. He received severe injuries by being 
dragged along the road, after he had fallen frt)m his steed. His 
head was so wounded, that Michael Shields says in his Faiih/hl 
CorUendingSy that ** he was discovered afterwards '^ to be ** short 
in his naturals,^ evidently implying that his mental power was 
affected. Houston eventually died in Ireland in 1696. 

The rescuers lost one man, John M ^Geachan by name. He 
was the farmer in Meikle Auchingibbert, and in the fight was 
mortally wounded. He tried to make his way home, but only 
reached Stonepark, where his pitiable position failed to call forth 
the sjrmpathy of the inmates. Doubtless, they were afraid of 
the consequences, in the event of the return of the dragoons to 
avenge their defeat. At length his friends found him, but as a 
warrant had been issued by the Government, for the apprehension 
of all engaged in the rescue, it was not deemed safe to take the 
wounded man home. They hid him, therefore, in a tiuf built 
sheep cot. For three weeks he lingered in great agony, till death 



1 ■ • ■ • 

Cin^INOCK AND THE CoVENAKT. 1T7 

put an end to his sufferings. He lies buried at Stonepark, on 
which the peasants were long accustomed to believe a curse 
rested, making its soil poor, because of the inhumanity of its 
dwellers towards their sorely stricken neighbour. 

That M^Geachan was thoroughly in sympathy with the 
Covenanting movement, is evident from the insertion of his name 
in the proclamation of Charles II., in the year 1684, for the 
apprehension of all in our parish, who favoured the cause of 
Reformation. Decree is there given for his capture. 

The cii-cumstances of his death are fully set forth in the in- 
scription on the stone raised over his grave : — 

Here lies 
JOHN M*GEACHAN, 

WHO FOR HIS CONSTANT 

ADHERENCE TO THE WORD OF 

GrOD, 

prosecuting the ends of 

our national league and 

covenant, and appearing for 

the rescue of the 

Rev. David Houston, 

one of the persecuted 

ministers of the gospel, 

WAS SHOT AT BeLLOW PaTH BY 
A PARTY OF BLOODY DRAGOONS, 

xxvui July, 1688. 
Erected anno 1728. 

M 



l78 duTOKY OF Old Cvumoct. 

The date here is wrong. The month was June, and the day 
of the month the 20th. A fresh stone, on which the old inscrip- 
tion is engraved, was erected in 1836. 

No other martyr lies buried within the limits of our parish. 
The well-known monument on the lonely heights of Corse- 
gellioch, marking the resting place of Joseph Wilson, John 
Jamieson, and John Humphrey, is situated within the borders of 
New Cumnock. As the worthy men whom it commemorates, do 
not appear to have had any connection with our parish, it is not 
needful to trace their history. 

Cumnock, however, supplied a number of additional heroes 
who laid down their lives for the Covenant. 

One of them was George Crawford, who was executed at 
Edinbui^h, along with two companions, on the 14th December, 
1666, for taking part in the Pentland rising. He is duly re- 
turned in the martyr lists as belonging to our town. Crawford, 
who was a weaver by trade, was well able to give a reason for 
the hope that was in him. Here are his words spoken in defence 
of his taking up arms : — " That which moved me to come along 
with these men, was their persuasion and my desire to help them 
(which with a safe conscience I could not well refuse), who being 
tyrannically oppressed by the prelates and their defenders and 
upholders, and seeing no other way was left to be taken, took 
up arms for their own defence. And if this be rebellion, I leave 
it to the great God, the supreme Judge, to discern ; for in my 
weak judgment, I found it wan-antable from the word of God."" 
(Todd's HomeSy Haunts^ and Battlefields of the Covenanters^ 
p 242). 



k 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 179 

Another suflTerer was Patrick M'Naught, who was indicted in 
1667, for being " with the rebels at Mauchline in arms and at 
Pentland,^ and was condemned to be executed (Wodrow, IL, 
p. 73). In all probability both Crawford and M'Naught jomed 
Colonel Wallace, when he stayed at Cumnock on his way to 
Edinburgh. Wallace, who was an able officer and a devoted 
adherent of the Covenanting cause, published a Narrative of the 
Risiiiff at Pentland. Not only does he tell us in it that Cum- 
nock lay on his route, but he gives us a vivid glimpse of local 
affairs at the time. " That night,^ he says, " being Tuesday, we 
stayed at Mauchline, where our dear friend, John Ross (who is 
now in glory), gave us notice that there was so much hazard 
from Drumlanrick and others in and about Cumnock, as might 
cause us not to be secure.**^ And again, " Upon the morrow, 
being Friday, we marched towards Cumnock, but before we 
came that length, John Millar in Glasgow, who had been one of 
those sent off for intelligence, came and told us that John Ross 
and the rest of that party were taken prisoner by the Duke's 
troops, and that he himself had hardly escaped, having lost his 
horse and arms. From Cumnock we marched the same night to 
the Moorkirk in a most violent rainy night.*" 

We can therefore picture Colonel Wallace, with his nine 
hundred men, moving through our old town and being joined by 
Crawford and M*Naught, both of whom perished for their bold- 
ness. Wallace was carrying with him at the time, as a prisoner, 
Sir James Turner, a Royalist officer who had been recently cap- 
tured. Sir James, who wrote Memoirs of his own Life and 
TimeSf gives us an account of his experiences with the Covenant- 



l80 HisTOKT OF Old CmKooL 



ing armv, corroborating the statement of Wallace. ** On the 
twentie third day of the month '^ (November), he savs, ** they 
(the CoTenanters) broke up from Ochiltree about eleven of the 
clock in the morning, and marrhed to Cumlock."" (p. 164). 

Mention must also be made of Robert Mitchell, a native of 
Cumnock, who, with four others, was shot at Inghston, in the 
parish of Glencaim. His tombstone thus reands his death, and 
that of one of his comrades, Robert Edgar, who was buried 
with him in the same grave. The date of their martvrdom was 
the 28th April, 1685. 

Halt, pwfnger, tell if thoo crer saw 
Men thot to death without proceai of law. 
We two, of four, who in this chnrehyari lie, 
Thns felt the rage of Popish tynnnj. 

A different fate awaited John Gemill and James IMirrie, two 
of the r^resentatives of Cumnock at the battle of Bothwdl 
Bridge. On that disastrous field they were captured, and taken 
with 250 companions to Edinburgh, where they were confined in 
the Greyfriars^ churchyard. After months of great suffering, 
they were sentenced to be banished to America. The ship in 
which thev embarked, the Crasm from Leith. was wrecked off the 
coast of Orkney. Only fifty escaped. Gemill and Mirrie were 
among the drowned. An obelisk 40 feet high« with a crown on 
the top, at Scardating« Orkney, marks the place where the bodies 
washed ashore were buried. 

Occasionally some of our local Covenanters^ though sentenced 
to death* were fortunate enough to obtain a reprieve. Wodrow, 
for instance, says in 1685, ^ By the Council Registers I find 



I 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 181 

James Napier, Allan Atkin, John Peirson, sentenced to die by 
Colonel Douglas and the Commissioners at Cumnock, are 
reprieved and recommended to the secretaries for a remission."" 
He adds ^^ June 12th, their remission comes for the crime of con- 
cealing the rebels, who lately went through the shire of Ayr.*" 
(Hkt., IV., p. 284.) 

It was a common practice as well, when the penalty of death 
was not inflicted, to exact a heavy pecuniary fine. Thus, it is 
recorded that Patrick Crawford of Cumnock was fined at Ayr in 
1662 ^"2000 Scots, and John Campbell of Glasnock £480 Scots. 
Such sums were big in those days. But in the matter of fines, 
Cumnock was in no way different from the rest of Ayrshire. It 
has been calculated that, in a few years, «£280,000 Scots were 
wrung from the pockets of the Pre8b3i;erians of the south-west of 
Scotland. 

The custom was universal to demand a pajrment, in money or 
goods, from all who declined to attend the services of the curate 
in the parish church. Diligent inquiry was made by the Crown 
officials. When the people were found to be absenting them- 
selves, they were at once prosecuted. Instances of this procedure 
occmred in our neighbourhood during the incumbency of Samuel 
Nimmo. ^^ In the town of Cumnock,^ we are told under date 
1683, ^^ William Creichton, Sheriff-depute, held a court and most 
part of the men of Auchinleck were cited before him, and many 
compelled to swear whether they kept the church, at least, every 
third Sabbath. The curate sat in the court with the Sheriff- 
depute. All who came before them were likewise obliged to 
declare upon oath, what they knew anent their neighbours not 



182 History of Old Cumnock. 

keeping the church ; and such, who would not swear and engage 
to regularity, were fined in fifty pounds, whereof they behoved to 
pay twenty presently, otherwise soldiers were sent to their houses 
to poynd and drive.*" (Wodrow, III., p. 494.) 

Certainly such a process of examination was intolerable. Men 
had to part either with their conscience or with their property. 
We can only wonder at the moderation of our forefathers, when 
such a state of matters prevailed. So thoroughly and sjrstemati- 
cally was the attempt made to carry out this work of inquisition, 
that in 1678 all the heritors of Cumnock, like those of every 
other parish in Ayrshire, were summoned to take a bond to the 
effect, " that neither they, their wives, bairns, tenants, cottars 
and servants . . . shall go to field conventicles, or harbour 
or commune with rebels."" Few, however, took this bond. 
Among those who subscribed it was the Earl of Dumfries. 

Even that was not all. The inhabitants, at the same time, 
were required to give food and lodging to the soldiers, whenever 
they passed through Cumnock, and keep them as long as they 
stayed. This must have been a most annoying experience. For 
the soldiers seem to have given themselves up to every kind of 
excess and violence. It is said of the militia and Highlanders 
employed in this work, that they ravaged to the utmost, " Kyle, 
Carrick, and Cunningham, where they committed the most 
notorious outrages, wounded and dismembered some persons 
without the least show of provocation."" (Wodrow, II., p. 410.) 

We get some idea of the injury sustained by the people of our 
town, from the following account of expenses and damages, drawn 
up for the year 1678. It is Wodrow who gives it. (II., pp. 



k 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 18S 

428-4S6.) He calls it a statement of the losses sustained ^^ by 
quartering, robbing, and spoiling of the soldiers and Highland 
Host"" The sum for the whole of Kyle is put down at .^^55,419 
lis. We give, however, the details only for Old and New Cum- 
nock, which were then united. 

" The parishes of Cumnock, Old and New, sustained 
of loss by quartering two hundred and fifty 
Caithness men, fifteen nights, with some 
officers, ... ... ... ... ... ... £1093 6 8 

Exacted by their officers and cleared off their quar- 
ters as appears from their notes, 200 

Item, dry quarters to some officers, 64 

Free quarters to them, 60 

Plunder by these soldiers, 958 17 4 

By quartering ninety-five of Caithness men six nights, 171 
By quartering three hundred and twenty Caithness 

men one night, 96 

Dry quarters and plunder by these, 872 2 4 



Extendethto £3015 6 4.'' 

The money is of course Scots, but the siun even in the old 
currency is large, while the different details give us a glimpse of 
the tremendous strain resting upon the inhabitants, through the 
presence of those bands of licensed marauders, whom they were 
forced to entertain in their homes. As the statement of 
damages, which has' just been given, is only for twelve months, 
we must conclude that the same Icind of loss and suffering was 
endured year after year, until the killing time came to ftn end, 



184 HunoiT OF Old Cdmkock. 

An incident of another description took place in 1680 at Bello 
Path. It comes to us from an unexpected quarter. Dean Swift, 
in the twelfth volume of his collected works edited by Sir Walter 
Scott, has published the Memoirs of Captain Jchn Creichknu 
This Captain Creichton, an Irishman by birth, was a kinsman of 
the Earl of Dumfries. Bom in Don^al in 1648, he received, at 
the age of twenty-six, a commission to join the troops in Scotland 
employed against the Covenanters. For a brief period at least, 
he was in our neighbourhood, living in all likelihood at the home 
of his relative. Let him tell the story in his own words, though 
we may well suppose he gives to the incident, a more ludicrous 
appearance than it actually woi^. The date is some time after 
the action at Airsmoss, where Cameron fell and where Creichton 
himself was severely wounded. Steel, whose name is mentioned, 
acted as militarv leader of the Covenanters after Hackston was 
captured in 1680. 

** Sometime,^ says Creichton, ^ before the action in which he 
(Steel) was kilkxl. General Drummond, who was then newly 
made Commander-in-chief, ^nit for me in haste to attend him in 
Edinburgh. My way lay thn^ugh a very sti'oug pass, hard by 
AirsmoQis, and within a mile of CuniKx*k; a:^ I was going through 
l\unKH*k, a friend there told me that Steel with a party waited 
for me at the (vtss. 1 had with me only one dragoon and a 
drunnuer ; I oixlereil the latter to gallop straight on to the pass, 
and when he had got thither to U'at a dragoon march, while I 
and the dmg\H>ii shouKl ride along the bv^^ath on the edge of 
the nuvia. When Sttvl and hi« men hecuxl the drum, they 
$l\nmxl along the by^vUh into the nu^c^ appivhending that a^ 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 186 



strong party was coming in search of them ; but either I or the 
dragoon (I forget which) shot one of the rebels dead, as he 
crossed us to get into the moss."*^ Now Captain John Creichton's 
forgetfulness of the source of the shot which killed the Cove- 
nanter, may have arisen from that hardness of spirit which some 
kinds of warfare, at least, are fitted to produce. But it is just 
possible that the Royalist officer, with his one dragoon and one 
drummer, was in greater danger than he cared to admit. Those 
who rescued Houston, at the same place eight years later, were 
quite likely to know the strength or the weakness of the force, 
which this scion of the House of Dumfries had with him. 

The Memoirs of Captain CreichUm are sad reading. He 
freely admits that he gave himself up to hard drinking, and 
actually imagined that the hiding-places of the Covenanters were 
revealed to him in dreams, after he had succumbed to the influ- 
ence of drink. Sir Walter is not too severe on him when he 
says that he felt no more sympathy for the men he was perse- 
cuting, than the hunter feels for the game he destroys. There is 
little wonder that the name of this officer was held in abhorrence, 
long after his hateful work came to an end, and he retired to the 
country of his birth. 

Occasionally the aix;h-persecutor himself, more dreaded even 
than Creichton, must have been seen in our parish. For Ayr- 
shire was part of the district over which Claverhouse, grimly 
called the " Bloody,^ ruled with a rod of iron. Mark Napier, 
with a zeal worthy of a better cause, has tried to picture Claver- 
house as a noble-minded gentleman, wholly consumed with a love 
of duty, and practically guiltless of all the tra^c scenes coa- 



186 History of Old Cumnock. 

nected with his name. But even if other evidence were lacking, 
the oral traditions, which live to this day all over the county 
of Ayr, would themselves be ample proof of the truthfulness 
of the charges brought against Graham of Claverhouse. Wide- 
spread reports on such a matter are only too well founded on 
fact. 

The thoroughness with which Claverhouse did his work, is 
manifest from the letters he sent from time to time to his 
superiors. It is only with Cumnock, however, that we are 
concenied. Our town is mentioned several times in his corres- 
pondence. 

On the 16th June, 1684, five days after his marriage, he 
writes from Kilbryde to Greneral Dalzell in the following terms: — 
" I parted on Friday (13th) at twelve o^ock from Paisley, went 
by Kilmarnock and Mauchline, but could hear nothing of these 
rebels. So hearing Colonel Buchan was at the old castle of 
Cumnock, I took by Ochiltree, who sent an express to a tenant's 
house of his, near Airdmoss, and he brought certain notice that 
thev had been at a meadow near his house the night before, to 
the number of fifty-nine, all armed."" Then, having narrated 
the steps taken by the different troops of dragoons, employed in 
scouring the whole district, he continues, " We have left no den, 
no knowe, no moss, no hill unsearched. There is a great 
drought, so that we could go almost through all. We traced 
them from Boghead near Airdmoss to the Hakhill, within two 
miles of Cumnock town, and from that to Gap towards Cairn- 
table, but never could hear more of them. They are separated, 
^ most believe, and gone towards the hills of Moffat. I axxi 




Cumnock and thk Covenant. 187 

sure there is not one man of them within these bounds. Earlshall 
is not yet come this length, nor Captain Strachan. But they 
are, I am sure, near, for the last was at Cumnock all night. The 
troops complain mightily of this march, and I know not what 
further can be done.^ On the next day to another correspondent 
he writes, ** I sent for Captain Strachan^s troop from the 
Glenkens, and ordered him to march to the old castle of Cum- 
nock, down to Som.*** 

These references make it quite certain that Claverhouse was 
seen in person in our neighbourhood. Possibly the Earl of 
Dumfries gave him hospitality. A friendly welcome would also 
await him at Boreland Castle, whose proprietors at the time, the 
Montgomeries, threw the weight of their influence into the scale 
against the Covenanters. 

Very definite orders came to Claverhouse regarding his work. 
The names of individuals who were obnoxious to the Grovem- 
ment, and accordingly marked ofi^ for imprisonment or death, 
were sent to him. On the 6th May of the same year in which 
Claverhouse wrote these letters, Charles II. issued his famous 
proclamation ^^for the apprehension of persons, who were sup- 
posed to have been under arms, or to have harboured those who 
were.'* The proclamation embraces many counties besides Ayr- 
shire, each parish bemg dealt with in turn. 

The names of those belonging to Cumnock are interesting. 
There are nineteen in all. Some of them belong to New 
Cumnock, but the whole list may be given as it stands in 
Wodrow's History (iv. p. 12) : — 



188 History of Old Cumnock. 

Mr. John Halbert in Cumnock forfeited. 
James Mitchell, cordiner there. 

Crichton in Craigman. 

Patrick Gemmil in the old Castle of Cumnock. 
William Stiuje there. 

John Reid in . 

Alexander Stillie in Townhead of Cumnock. 
John Tennant at the old castle of Cumnock. 
JabiIEs Dalziel near the kirk of Cumnock. 
John Wood, son to Hugh Wood in Lowis. 
William Lambie in Polquhays. 
James Steel tenant to Carleton. 
George Gemmil in Minaucht. 

Greig there. 

Robert Murdoch in Knockmamoch. 

John Mackechan in Auchingibbat. 

James Wilson at the old castle of Cumnock. 

William Skilling in Pablow. 

John Campbell in Townhead of Cumnock. 

Two other names appear under Kirkoswald, 

Robert M'Gavin in Cumnock. 

William Campbell in Townhead of Cumnock, 

and one name under Carluke, 

John Weir, tailor in Cumnock. 

This list proves two things. It shows first, that many of the 
ordinary residents in the parish, bravely bore the heat and burden 
of the day of persecution ; and secondly, it lets us see how 



% 



Cumnock and the Covenant. 189 

minutely Cumnock, like other parishes in Ajni^hire, was inspected 
by the authorities, and how thoroughly they were acquainted 
with every family and individual that refused to conform. The 
informers, who have gained for themselves such an evil reputa- 
tion, must have been both active and numerous. 

In places where a curate had been installed, part of his duty 
was to take note of all, who failed to attend the services of the 
parish church, and were believed to frequent conventicles. 
Occasionally, artifices were resorted to by the country people, in 
order to allay suspicion. Some were perfectly legitimate, and 
even possessed a jocular element. At other times, expedients 
were employed which were not entirely free from unworthiness, 
though we must make full allowance for the terrible strain put 
upon a man, when there was the probability of his name being 
sent up to headquarters as a rebel. 

An illustrative case occurred during the curacy of Francis 
Fordyce. John Campbell of Lochingerroch had incurred his 
suspicion. His name was at once placed on the roll of offenders. 
By and by, Campbell, or some one for him, sent a note to the 
curate, requesting prayer to be offered for him in the prospect of 
death. Fordyce, imagining that Campbell was about to depart 
this life, deleted his name. Of course, as long as his name was 
on the fatal list, his life was in danger every day ; but it was 
clearly intended that the request should be understood, as if the 
good farmer was approaching his end. Doubtless the distance 
of Lochingerroch from the curate^s manse rendered it easy to 
carry out the ruse. 

The name at the head of the list of fugitives which has just 



l90 History of Old Cumnock. 

been given, is interesting. It is that of Mr. John Halbert. The 
title ^^ Mr."*^ shows he was a minister. Some connection he must 
have had with our district, else he would not have been pro- 
claimed as an offender, whose domicile was Cumnock. As there 
were Halberts or Harberts at the time in the farm of Auchin- 
corse (Paterson, i. p. 201), it is extremely likely that he was one 
of them. His story, so far as it can be traced, is thus told in the 
Acts of Parliament for 1690 : — 

" Anent the Petitione presented and given in unto his 
Majestic'*s High Commission and honourable Estates of Parlia- 
ment be Mr. John Harbert, minister of the gospel, showing that 
the petitioner being forefault upon ane most frivolous pretence of 
being present at Clock Lownie in Cumnock paroch, where it was 
alledged some few men were exercising their armes, as will appear 
by the books of Adjournal ; neither was the petitioner ever cited 
being off the country a whole year and more before his said fore- 
faulture. And the sura of 3000 merkes which was his whole 
fortune, being in the Loixl Crichton^s hands, his Lordship was 
forced by the cash keeper for the tyme, to make payment thei-eof 
and of its annual rents since Whitsunday, 1682,'*' therefore he 
craves, " the High Commission and Honourable Estates of 
Parliament, as other persons are restored to their lands, soe to 
order reparatione and repayment to the petitioner of the 8000 
merks and annual rents.*" 

It is evident therefore that Halbert sought restoration of his 
property, on the ground that he had been unjustly accused, and 
had actually been away from Scotland at the time. Who then 
was this John Halbert, minister of the gospel, whose name is 




CtuMNOCK AND THE CoVXNANT. l91 

associated with Clockclownie ? Scott^s Fiuti gives us the infor- 
mation. It is contained in the notice of the parish of North 
Berwick. The entry is as follows : — 

^* 1690. John Herbert, A.M., studied and was graduated at 
Glasgow 27 July, 1676, was forfeited for being present at Clock 
Lownie, Ajni^hire, when some men were exercising arms, and 
SOOO merks seized which the Estates of Parliament, 8 July 1690, 
recommended to be restored ; presented by William and Mary 
after 7 January the same year, member of Assembly in October, 
1690, and died Edinburgh 14 July 1691, about 36 years."" 

Halbert thus came at last into the possession of his inheri- 
tance, but only to enjoy it for a brief space. His ministry at 
North Berwick lasted just eighteen months. That he was a man 
of considerable worth, is manifest from the sympathetic words 
which the Earl of Crawford used regarding him, in a letter 
supporting his claims addressed to the Earl of MelviUe, then 
Secretary of State for Scotland. ** I know,"" he says, " the char- 
acter he bears of an embassador of Christ, his deep and patient 
sufferings in the late times, his zeal for the King"s interest and 
your Lordship's service will plead strongly at your hand."" 

It was good for Halbert that he was not settled in his native 
parish. Had he been ordained in Cumnock instead of Nimmo 
or Fordyce, the Grallows Knowe would have been his resting 
place. His restoration to his rights was, perhaps, the earliest 
fruit in oiur parish of the Revolution, which set William and 
Mary upon the throne. 

Another matter bearing upon the Covenanting history of the 
district, deserves notice. Richard Cameron occasionally preached 



192 HirroBV of Old Cumkock. 

here. John Howie thus tells of his connection with Cumnock, 
and of the treatment he received. ** ^Vhen he came to preach in 
and about Cumnock, he was much opposed by the Lairds of 
Logan and Horsecleugh, who represented him as a Jesuit and a 
vile, naughty person. But yet some of the Lord^s people, who 
had retained their former faithfulness, gave him a call to preach 
in that parish. When he began, he exhorted the people to mind 
that they were in the sight and presence of a holy Grod, and that 
all of them were hastening to an endless state of well or woe.** 
One of the audience, Andrew Dalziel by name, cried out, ** Sir, 
we neither know you nor your God.'' Cameron, musing a little, 
said, " You and all who do not know my God in mercy, shall 
know him in his judgments, which shall be sudden and surprising 
in a few days upon you ; and I, as a servant of Jesus Christ, 
whose commission I bear, and whose badge I wear upon my 
breast, give you warning and leave you to the justice of Grod.'' 
Stnuige to relate, Dalziel died with startling suddenness shortly 
afterwards. " This admonishing passage,*^ continues the his- 
torian, " together with the power and presence of the Lord 
going along with the gospel dispensed by him, during the little 
time he was there, made the foresaid two Lairds desire a confer- 
ence with him ; which he readily assented to. After which they 
were obliged to acknowledge, that they had been in the wrong to 
him and desired his forgiveness. He said, from his heart he 
forgave them what wrongs they had done to him ; but for what 
wrongs they liad done to the inteixist of Christ, it was not his 
part ; but he was persuaded that they would be remarkably 
punished for it. And to the Laird of Logan he said, that he 




CUHNOCK AND THE COVZNANT. 198 

should be written childless ; and to Horsecleugh, that he should 
suffer by burning. — ^Both of which afterwards came to pass.** 
(Scots WarihieSj p. 336). Doubtless, Howie is correct in his 
reference, but no recollection lingers in the district, as to the 
manner in which Horsecleugh House was destroyed. It has long 
since disappeared. 

It 18 only to be expected that a district like ours, Ijring in the 
very centre of the Covenanting coimtry, should possess a num- 
ber of relics belonging to those memorable days. The most 
valuable memorial to be foimd in our town, is the Covenanting 
banner, in the keeping of Mr. Douglas M^Greachin. It has been 
wrought by careful hands and sewn with special skill, but we 
shall never know who were engaged in the work of producing it. 
Tradition asserts that it was unfiurled at Drumclog. 

For many years the flag lay forgotten in the house of a 
medical practitioner. Dr. Kirkland. On its discovery some time 
before 1830, its value and interest were at once recognised. It 
was frequently borne in public processions at the time of the 
Reform Bill, as if in proof of the kinship of the Covenanters of 
1680, with the Reformers of 1832. It is now somewhat torn, 
and its inscription partly defaced. It is easy, however, to supply 
what has been lost. After a scroll in which the name of oiur 
town is inserted, there runs in Latin the device, 

Pro Religione et Patria. 

The material of which it is made is cream-coloiu^ed silk. At one 
of the upper comers, there is a St. Andrew'^s cross on a blue 
ground. The flag is nearly square, being about 6 feet long and 

N 



194 HisTOET OF Old Cuiqvock. 

the same in breadth. Cumnock may well be proud of its historic 
banner. Mr. Murray'^s lines aptly describe it : — 

" Old and Uttered u thoa art. 
Little heeded, little known, 
Thon didst play a valiant |MUt 
In the straggle long bygone^ 
And oar boasted liberty 
Partly parohased was by thee." 

Another flag almost similar was found at the same time by 
Dr. Kirkland. He presented it to the Hunterian Museum in 
Glasgow, where it still hangs upon the wall. 

Three swords are also in the town, which doubtless drew blood 
in Covenanting times. One of them was found about thirty 
years ago, not far from the martyrs' monument on Corsqjellioch 
hill. It is a Ferrara blade, being stamped on both sides with 
that well-known name. For nearly 200 years it must have lain 
in the moor, concealed by the heather and the grass, till a 
passer-by chanced to see it, and carried it in triumph to 
Cumnock, where it still remains in the possession of Mr. William 
Clark. It is old and rusty, but if it could speak, it would be able 
to tell some stirring stories about the strong arm that wielded 
it, and the deeds of cruelty, it may be, it was asked to perform 
on some of our Covenanting ancestors. 

Another sword is in the possession of Mrs. Smith, Barrhill 
Road. It was discovered a few years ago in the roof of an old 
house, which was taken dovm in order to make room for the 
Baird Institute. It, too, is a Ferrara, but its history is unknown. 
The third sword is in the possession of Mr. William King. It 




Cumnock and the Covenant. 195 

was picked up at Bello Path. Perhaps it dropped from the 
hand of one of the captors of the Rev. David Houston. 

In the custody of Mr. Reid of Milzeoch are some fragments of 
clothing and a lock of hair, taken from the grave of the Corse- 
gellioch martjn:^, when the foundation of the monument which 
marks their resting place was dug in 1827. They are in a 
wonderfrdly good state of preservation, and are interesting not 
only in themselves, but also as indicating the antiseptic proper- 
ties of the peat-moss in which the martyrs lie. Those present at 
the erection of the memorial stone were in the habit of saying 
that the bodies of Wilson and his comrades, even after the lapse 
of 148 years, were free from the markB of decay. 

Another relic lies in the Free Church Manse. Though its 
history does not actually connect it with our district, its presence 
in our parish warrants a reference to it in this sketch of Cove- 
nanting days. It is a laige folio Bible of venerable appearance, 
printed in Amsterdam in 1643. Trustworthy evidence regarding 
it states, that it was possessed by a family in the Pentland 
district, into whose cottage the dragoons came in search of the 
persecuted folk and their books. The Bible only was discovered. 
One of the dragoons, in contempt, drove his sword into its pages, 
meaning to lift it up and toss it into the fire. Each time he did 
so, the heavy Bible fell frt>m the point of his weapon, and it 
remains to this day with the cuts of the trooper's sword distinctly 
visible. Like many of the old martyrs themselves, it could use 
the words of the apostle and say, ^* I bear in my body the marks 
of the Lord Jesus." 



196 HisTOET OF Old Cuifvoor. 

All these relics, as well as Peden'^s pistol, appear in the an- 
nexed engraving. 

Enough has now been said, to show that Cumnock took no 
small part in the great struggle for civil and religious freedom at 
the close of the 17th century, when the Stuart kings made loyalty 
impossible by the test they imposed. Our ancestors had a 
difficult work to do, and they did it nobly and welL The crisis 
was keen, and the issues at stake were vast; but fEumers and 
weavers, illiterate labourers and humble shepherds, strong in the 
purity of their heart and the sincerity of their convictions, were 
able to brave the forces of organized oppression, to break the 
power of an unjust tyranny, and to overturn the throne of an 
unworthy king. 

To us, who live two centuries after they fought and sufiered, 
their memory should be ever dear. They laboured, and we have 
entered into their labours. The fruits are ours of the seed they 
sowed. Bannockbum freed us from political oppression; the 
struggle for the Covenants sealed that freedom, and added to it 
the still more priceless heritage of freedom in the things of GkxL 
The field was held for us by Peden and Richard, by M^Greachany 
Paterson, and Dun. ITiey and their comrades throughout the 
country quitted themselves like men, standing true even unto 
death. 

Doubtless the Covenanters had their faults, and made mistakes 
in carrying out their purpose. Nevertheless, their purpose was 
grand and their aim high. For they sought nothing else than 
to bring Scotland into Covenant with God, and to make their 





COVENANTINQ FLAQ AND OTHER RELICS. 



•*» 




COHNOCK AND THB COVXNAMT. 197 

ootmtry devoted to His wilL This was no mean vision. The 
very thought of it was sufficient to elevate and inspire. 

In their external form the Covenants have disappeared. But 
the idea of a nation working in unison with Grod, has been 
imprinted by them on Scotland's life and character, and that idea 
is destined never to pass away. It well becomes us, therefore, 
who are the children of such heroes, to be like them in their love 
of their fatherland, and especially in their burning desire to 
bring that fatherland, into true sympathy with the will and 
purpose of God. 

The words of the old martyr, James Guthrie, have a truth in 
them, the full realization of which ought to claim the thought 
and effort of every Scottish patriot — 

** They may soatter their dnst to the winds ef Heaven, 
To the boonds of the ntmost sea. 
Bat her Ck>yenant8, burned, reviled and riven, 
Shall yet her reviving be." 



HinoEY OF Old Cdhnocx. 



CHAPTER EX. 



The Story (^ the Kirk-Setrion. 

" I will * ronnd, anruniihad U« daliTW." — Shdxiptn. 

The church records of Cumnock are documeuts of coufflderable 
intereat Tliey throw light upon the social, religious, aud 
ecclesiaatical state of the parish in oldeu days. The most valu- 
able portions of them, however, have been lost, and the loss is 
extremely great It would have been of the utmost importance 
for the full understanding of the history of Cumnock, especially 
in the years that followed the Refonnation and in Covenanting 
times, if the contemporaneous accounts engrossed in the official 
statements of the Session had been still in existence. For we can 
hardly imagine that they would have been silent, regarding the 
doings of Claverhouse and Douglas in relation to Alexander 
Peden, to Richard Cameron, to Thomas Richard, and to others 
who suffered for the sake of the Covenant in our immediate 
vicinity. We can only deplore the loss which cannot be made 
up, and be tbankfiil for the volumes of records which remain. 
Ministers and session-clerks, two or three centuries ago, failed to 
i be ex:iriiriefl to-Hav, by eyes eager 
ii!J have takea 
S facts, 




The Story of the Kirk-Session. 199 

illustrative of the doings and circumstances of their people, of 
greater importance than many of those they do relate. 

The ease, with which the earlier documents of the church 
disappeared, may be understood when it is mentioned that for a 
considerable time in the middle of the 18th century, the minutes 
of the Session of Cumnock were written on separate pieces of 
paper. Even then complaint was made that many of them had 
gone astray. Accordingly, for their preservation an order was 
given in 1754 to Greorge Mackervail, to re-write the minutes 
firom February, 1742, to February, 1768. This was done by 
him, and for his work of copying into a permanent record 117 
folio pages, he was paid the sum of fifteen shillings sterling. 

The volumes which have reached us begin on the 16th Novem- 
ber, 1704, and come down to the present day practically without 
intermission. They are in fairly good condition, and though the 
penmanship is not always first class, and the ink has sometimes 
faded, the writing can in most cases be easily made out. Some 
matters of interest culled from their old yellow pages, will 
indicate the kind of story they have to tell. 

/. — The Session anid the Discipline of the Church. 

The greater portion of the records is taken up with the action 
of the Session, in matters requiring the discipline and censure of 
the chiu^ch. It is well-known that the method of discipline, 
pursued by a session up till the 19th century dawned, was much 
more severe and inquisitorial than we are accustomed to in 
modem days. Everywhere in Scotland, measures were adopted 




iiOO History of Old Cumnock. 

for the punishment and reclamation of offenders, at which we 
almost stand aghast as we read of them. The most amazing 
feature, perhaps, about the old system was this — ^the people 
seemed to approve of it. For there can be little doubt that it 
would have been changed much sooner, if it had not received the 
support of the community. Use and wont, it may be, had a 
great deal to do with its continuance, and customs of every kind 
are slow to die. But it is difficult to get a really satisfactory 
explanation of the continued existence of the old system of disci- 
pline, down at least to the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
unless we recognise the fact that it received the sympathy of the 
people. Ministers were powerless to keep it up of themselves, 
even had they wished to do so. The elders, who carried out the 
process in every congregation along with the minister, derived 
their title to rule firom the people, with whom they were in dose 
touch. If congregations had risen against it, as they would have 
been certain to do, if there had not been a fairly general approval 
of it, they could have overthrown the old system, and forced the 
introduction of a new system, a century earlier than the change 
really took place. 

Cumnock, at the time the existing records open, was in no way 
different from the rest of the country. The stool of repentance 
was hardly ever empty on Sabbath. This happened indeed, not 
so much through the number of individual offenders, as through 
the number of appearances in public which every offender was 
required to make. The path to absolution was long and tedious, 
and many Sabbaths sometimes elapsed before the last step on it 
was taken. It was no uncommon thing for the guilty person to 



The Story of the Eirk-Sessiok. COl 

appear *^in the usual place of repentance,^ for four or five 
Sabbaths in succession. In certain cases seven, and even eight, 
separate appearances were required. Sometimes, at least, the 
ofiender was clothed in sackcloth. Thus, under date 10th August, 
17S9, we read : — *^ Jean Paterson appeared this day in public, 
with sackcloth on her ; ^ and again, SOth April, 1740 : — ^* Mary 
Sherringlaw was appointed to appear in sackcloth next Lord's 
day at the usual place in order to be rebuked."" 

At length a change came. By the year 1800, the custom of 
appearing publicly in church in order to be rebuked had practi« 
cally ceased in Cumnock, though a solitary case remains on 
record, of a person being appointed to occupy the stool of re- 
pentance as recently as 1818. The change in every way was a 
happy one. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, we find another 
practice beginning to be adopted in connection with discipline, 
though it only became frequent after public appearances ceased. 
This was the payment by the breaker of church law, of a fine 
which went to swell the Poor Fund. The minutes in such cases 
run in this manner : — *^ J. D., having satisfied the treasurer as to 
the penalty, was rebuked and absolved ; ^' ** A. B. paid 6s. 8d. 
for behoof of the poor;'' " E. C. was fined 10s. 6d. for the poor.** 
One guinea, however, seems to have been exacted from wealthier 
oflenders, as in the case of R. T., who gave that sum to the poor. 
The session, of course, exercised discretionary power as to the 
amoimt of the fine, for sometimes we read : — ^* The fine was re- 
mitted in this case, because of the indigent circumstances'' of the 
person. The last notice of the pa3nnent of a fine is SOth March| 



SOS H18TOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

1885, so that this custom only ceased five years after the settle- 
ment of the Rev. Ninian Bannatyne. 

The session, likewise, tried with a strong hand to check dis- 
orderly conduct, which would now call for the interference of the 
police. Thus, in April, 1737, Janet A. appeared before the 
session on the chaige of beating her mother, Jean T. Witnesses 
were examined in due course, one of whom swore that she saw 
Janet A. ** take a veaPs head, which her mother had laid down 
at the fireside, and beat her mother with it till she had to fly the 
house.^ Another deponed that after harvest she saw Janet A. 
beat her mother and pull her down, and when witness reproved 
her, Janet A. ** threw an old rusty kaill-whittle at her, and so 
hurt her that she could not move for a while.^ The case was 
deemed so bad, that Janet was cited to appear before the Presby- 
tery. This she refused to do, whereupon she was laid under the 
sentence of the lesser excommunication. 

Another case, which happened in May, 1753, shows the 
readiness with which the civil magistrate of the day, lent his 
authority to support the session in their duty. Allan Aikin of 
Horsecleugh was desirous of taking the oath of purgation, in 
order to declare his innocence of the charge made against him. 
The necessary delay of the church in granting him permission to 
do so, for the Presbytery required to give its sanction before the 
session could administer the oath, irritated Aikin. One Sabbath 
morning he appeared before service at a meeting of session, and 
demanded that he should have the opportunity of taking the 
oath that day in church. Mr. Muir told him it could not be 
given that day, but would be given on the earliest possible 



The Story of the Kiek-Session. 908 

occasion. Before the congregation was dismissed, however, Aikin 
^ came forward and, in a manner that gave universal offence, de- 
manded of the minister to take the oath ; and even after the 
minister had repeated the case to the congregation, which Allan 
Aikin^s conduct obliged him to do, he still persisted in his 
demand and threw down a sixpence upon the derk'^s desk, using 
words to this purpose, ^ Since you refuse me my oath, I hereupon 
take instruments against you.^ As evidence of the offence his 
behaviour gave, the civil magistrate, without any application 
firom the session, thought himself bound immediately to incar- 
cerate him.'*' Aikin's case was referred to the Presbytery. 
Eventually the oath of purgation was administered to him in 
February, 1764. 

The session also endeavoured to make more agreeable the home 
life of married persons, who were inclined to forget their vows. 
Thus it is recorded that on 11th February, 1758, ** James Smith 
and Janet Johnstoime, spouses, were both siunmoned to this diet, 
and being interrogated as to a report made to the session of 
their disorderly life and unchristian behaviour towards each 
other, acknowledged their fault and promised better behaviour 
in time to come,** 

The elders, too, were careful in their official capacity not to 
allow any persons to remain in the parish, who could not testify 
to their character. For in October, 17S4, we read that **a 
dancing master and a musician having come to the town without 
any testimonials were cited before them," and as they did not 
compear, the session applied to the civil magistrate to have them 
removed. 



t04 HisTOBT OF Old Cumnock. 

Persons with unruly tongues were called to account as wdL 
As late as 1882 it is stated that James H. appeared before the 
session for using unbecoming language to Jane 6. *^He was 
rebuked for his unseemly conduct, and admonished to be more 
circumspect, and bridle his tongue in the future.^ 

These specimen cases of discipline, taken out almost of a 
countless number, are sufficient to show the kind of work, which 
the elders regarded themselves as called upon to do along with 
the minister, and the manner in which they performed their 
work, by subjecting offenders to the censure of the church. 

//. — The Session and the Services of the Church. 

During the whole period covered by the old records, there 
seem to have been two services in church on Sabbath, both in 
summer and in winter. Thus we read under date 15th June, 
1707, that elders were ordained "after forenoon service," the 
words " forenoon service "" implying that there was an afternoon 
service as well. On 28th February, 1768, it is said that the 
session met between services, and on 20th April, 1776, reference 
is made to the afternoon service. No information is given as to 
the way in which the church services were attended. Naturally, 
however, the session took cognizance of the manner in which the 
people observed the Lord's day. Thus the session, being informed 
on the 12th September, 1731, that " A. Hamilton and his two 
sons were gathering nutts through the woods last Lord's day,^' 
cited him to compear before them next Sabbath. This he did, 
and confessed that "he went through the wood with his two 



The Story of the Eirx-Session. 205 

youngest sons, to bath his sore arm in the Woodside well, but 
that he gathered no nutts. He owned that it was a sin in going 
thither in so public a manner, in the time of divine service. The 
session rebuked him for his untendemess and the breach of the 
Sabbath, and for giving so bad an example to his children. His 
two sons, not having come to years of discretion, were not 
brought before the session.*" Again, on 15th January, 1744, 
they summon before them James Girvin of Watson, who was 
reported to have been guilty of the profanation of the Sabbath, 
^* by ofiering on that holy day before witnesses, to hire a servant.^ 
In connection with the celebration of the Lord's Supper during 
the ei^teenth century, a remarkable fact comes out. There 
does not seem to have been any regular day fixed for its adminis- 
tration. It was held whenever the session thought most con- 
venient. Thus, in 1705, the session fix the 15th July as the day 
of communion, but the day fixed in 1789 is the 5th August In 
1749, the session, after consultation, ^^consider the second Sabbath 
of August the fittest time for the Lord^s Supper, but arranged 
that if any member of session found any reason before Sabbath 
fortni^t, which would make that day inconvenient for the 
parish, the session should meet and consider the matter." On 
the 6th July, 1756, the session agreed to dispense the Sacrament 
of the Lord^s Supper, but delayed ^< fixing the time till they 
could do it with more certainty, as to the convenience of the 
congregation.'" The convenient day is found on September 5th. 
In 1768 the communion is held on May 8th ; in 1764 there are 
two communions, one on ISth February, and the other on 20th 
October. It is therefore perfectly plain that up till 1764 at 



S06 History of Old Cumnock. 



least, there was no fixed season for holding the communion. It 
seems certain, too, that until Mr. Muir introduced m that year 
two communions, it was the custom only to have one in the 
twelve months. At what time the two seasons so long associated 
with the observance of the Lord's Supper in oiu: parish — ^the 
fourth Sabbath of June, and the second Sabbath of December — 
were set apart for the purpose, the records nowhere state. Oral 
tradition, however, tells that during Mr. Frazer^s ministry, the 
communion, usually held then in August, was one year celebrated 
on the fourth Sabbath of June in order to allow Mr. Frazer to 
leave home for the sake of his health. The day fixed upon 
corresponded with the communion day in the parish of Auchin- 
leck, and was adhered to ever after. 

What extra services were held at the period of communion 
during the eighteenth century, ccuinot be determined with pre- 
cision. As early as 1645, certain preparatory services were 
ordered by the General Assembly. The act runs in this form : — 
** That there be a service of preparation delivered in the ordinary 
place of public worship, upon the day immediately preceding the 
communion.*" This accounts for the origin of a Saturday 
service. The thanksgiving service on the Monday took its rise 
at the time of the revival in Shotts under Livingstone in 1630. 
The Fast days, to which Scotland was so long accustomed, but 
which have now almost completely disappeared, in the Lowlands 
at least, were never recognised in the legislation of the Church, 
though the practice of receiving the communion fasting, is an 
ancient custom. It is even said to have been common in some 
parts of Scotland, during the first half of the nineteenth century. 



i 



The Story of the Kirk-Session. 207 

There are, however, very few references to any of these extra 
services in the session books. One or two only have been 
noticed. In November, 1789, mention is made of the *^last 
conmiunion Fast,^ and in the minute of 6th February, 1800, the 
words occur, ** the night immediately before the Fast, previous 
to the last dispensing of the communion.*^ It would be difficult 
at the present time for the ecclesiastical authorities of a parish, 
to appoint a Fast day during the week preceding the communion 
Sabbath, if that Sabbath were liable to be altered every year as 
the Session thought fit But in bygone days, when our fore- 
fathers were shut off in great measure from the rest of the 
country, through lack of the means of communication, the Fast 
day might, without much inconvenience, be fixed for the day 
that seemed best to the session. It was so, at any rate, in 
Cumnock. 

The elders, having appointed the Fast day, likewise exercised 
great watchfulness over the way in which the people observed it. 
For its sanctity was deemed almost equal to that of the Sabbath. 
Thus, on the 18th August, 1820, we read: — ^^^ James Shank- 
land appeared before the session, for having gone to the smithy 
at Whitesmuir on the sacramental Fast day, and gotten two 
horses shod by the apprentice of James Inglis there, who is an 
anti-burgher. He pled ignorance, having forgotten it was the 
Fast, was rebuked and restored to church privileges, from which 
for a time he had been debarred.'^ Doubtless the custom of 
changing the Fast day, caused Shankland to forget it The 
anti-burgher, James Inglis, who kept his smithy open that day, 
was, of course, not amenable to the jurisdiction of the session. 



208 History of Old Cumnock. 



As far as has been observed, this is the earliest reference in the 
records to the existence in Cumnock of the Secession Church. 

The communion Sabbath was a great day. The services held 
upon it were very prolonged. A number of ministers from sur- 
rounding parishes, as well as from a distance, were present. 
Even within the recollection of people still alive, neighbouring 
churches, like those of Auchinleck, New Cumnock, and Ochiltree, 
were closed on that day, in order to permit the people to gather 
here to witness the celebration of the Lord^s Supper, and the 
ministers to assist at it Our church would in turn sometimes 
be shut, when the minister was giving help elsewhere, and many 
of the parishioners would make their way to the neighbouring 
communions. Of course, the church was not large enough to 
hold all who flocked to it. It was accordingly arranged that 
the communion should be celebrated in church, where also the 
action sermon was preached, while in the churchyard an open-air 
service was carried on for a good many hours. The number 
attending the service in the churchyard was much greater than 
the number in church, though the church seems to have been 
completely filled. 'ITiose who still remember these outside 
gatlierings, which prevailed everywhere through our district, 
and which furnished Bums with a theme for his satire, say there 
was only too good cause to speak of them as he does in his Holy 
Fair. His picture, doubtless, is overdrawn, but it is too true to 
fact, to be regarded altogether as an exaggeration or a caricature. 
At the same time, we must remember that a similar scene on a 
smaller scale was enacted every Sabbath. The " change *" houses, 
as the public houses are always called in the session records, were 



% 



The Stoky of the Eiek-Session. 209 

open and were frequented every Lord'^s day. The evil was only 
accentuated and made more apparent, by the larger gatherings 
at the special communion seasons. Happily at length, the cus- 
tom of holding these open-air services, attended by people from 
far and near, ceased. Even before they passed away, the whole 
of the services in the church and at the churchyard, were con- 
ducted by the resident minister and one assistant, who divided 
the work between them, each taking a share of the work indoors 
and out of doors. On one of the last occasions, now nearly sixty 
years ago, when there was a service in the churchyard in connec- 
tion with the communion, the time came for the two ministers 
to exchange. Mr. Bannatyne was officiating in the church. He 
arranged with his helper to come down to the church at a 
certain hour, when Mr. Bannatyne was to proceed to the church- 
yard to continue the open-air service. The precentor in the 
churchyard that day was Mr. George Groldie, then leader of 
psalmody in Auchinleck. Before the assisting minister left the 
open-air service to make his way to the church, he gave out a 
psalm and told the people and the precentor to sing till Mr. 
Bannatyne arrived. The distance is not great ; but Mr. Banna- 
tyne was not quite ready to come. At any rate the time 
appeared very long to the precentor, who manfully stuck to his 
post and sang till the minister arrived. Long years afterwards 
he said, that he had never been ** sae sair pit till't ^ as then. 

Mention must also be made of a very appropriate custom, 
which prevailed at the meeting of Session immediately before the 
observance of the Lord'^s Supper, when the roll of membership 

was revised. The minister and several of the elders, we are told, 

o 



4 

r 



210 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

engaged in prayer. Thus in July, 1705, the session met " to 
consider some things relative to the great work of celebrating the 
Lord^s Supper, which was at hand, and especially to consider 
whom they could warrantably admit thereto, of whom they drew 
out a list from the minister's examining roll. After several had 
prayed to God for light and direction in so weighty a business, 
they appointed the said list to be kept in retentis.'" Again, 
under date July 26, 1755, we find the following similar entry : — 
** The Session met, and after prayer they had the commimion roll 
read over in their hearing, euid agreed to spend the rest of that 
sederunt in prayer. Accordingly the following members prayed, 
Andrew Hodge, Alexander Johnston, John Templeton, John 
VaUance." Such meetings, devoted to prayer for this purpose, 
could not fail to have a good effect on the members of Session 
themselves and on their people. 

Tokens of admission to the Lord's Table were given to intend- 
ing communicants at the preparatory service. Those in use after 
the middle of the 18th century, were thin pieces of lead, about 
half an inch square, stamped with the name Cumnock, and with 
the date 1756. As the name of the parish was too long to be 
stamped in legible letters in one line, the first syllable, " Cimi,'' 
appears at the top, and immediately below it the second syllable, 
" nock." The date is at the foot. 

There are few references in the records to the Sacrament of 
Baptism, which, in accordance with the Directory for Public 
Worship laid down by the Assembly, would, except in cases of 
necessity, be performed in church. Towards the end of last 
centuiy, the custom of baptizing the child on the earliest possible 



i 



The Story of the Kirk-Session. 211 

day — a custom which has wisely disappeared from the Presby- 
terian Church — seems to have prevailed. For, according to an 
entry in 1T74, we read that "Greorge Caldow, son of Greorge 
Caldow and Janet Sloan in Scearrington Miln, was bom on the 
21st and baptized on the 24th Jnly."^ 

Long ago, the custom of celebrating marriages in church, was 
much more usual in Scotland than it has been in recent years, 
though now it seems to be reviving. What the exact custom 
was in olden time in Cumnock the records do not state, for they 
contain only one reference to it. On 11th January, 1705, the 
Session considered ^^the most contemptuous and prophane 
carriage of Hugh Black by contending, swearing, and slandering 
for an alledged displeasure received from the church officer, which 
carriage was pubUc before many witnesses m the time of the 
solemnization of marriage in the church, notwithstanding of 
several rebukes given him by the minister to restrain him."" 

In connection with the question of marriage, the Session books 
frequently refer to " irregular marriages ^' contracted by members 
of the church. These marriages, which took place mostly in 
Glasgow, whither the parties went, were recognised by the 
Session as perfectly valid. The ceremony was usually performed 
by Episcopal curates. Very probably it was a desire to have the 
knot tied without publicity, which led to the adoption of this 
course. At any rate, it was frequently followed. On their 
return, the newly-married couple were in the habit of presenting 
their certificate of marriage to the Session, in order to have it 
duly recognised by them. The Session always recognised it, but 
at the same time took care to rebuke the persons, and ordered 



dl2 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

them tx) pay, not only the usual church fees exacted for marriage, 
but a fine as well. Thus we read on 20th May, 1788, that John 
Graham and his spouse were rebuked for their irr^ular marriage, 
and were ordained to pay the ordinary marriage fees and six 
shillings and eightpence of a fine. In some cases the persons 
were rebuked publicly in chuixih. 

Little is said about the conduct of Psalmody in the house of 
God. There is noted from time to time the appointment or the 
resignation of the precentor, but we look in vain for any informa- 
tion regarding the duties, the qualifications, and the salary of 
the leader of praise. Frequently the schoolmaster acted as 
precentor. Some little attention, however, must have been paid 
to vocal music, for our parish, in the middle of the 18th century, 
furnished a teacher of singing, who foimd employment for his 
gifts in various districts. On 17th March, 1754, we are told 
that ** the Session appoint a certificate to William Tannahill for 
upwards of twenty years preceding this date. Only he has been 
off in the way of his business as a teacher of church music, in 
other parishes for several years past, for months together.** 

The Session had also charge of the collections made at the 
church door. The money thus contributed was devoted by them 
to the proper purposes. They were very careful in having their 
treasurer's accounts audited, usually appointing the minister and 
two elders to examine them. In the financial statement, which 
was always rendered on these occasions, an entry, which sounds 
peculiar in our ears, is frequently to be met with. For example, 
it is said in November, 1738, that the balance in the treasurer's 
hands consists of £11 14s. Scots good money and <f60 Scots bad 



k 



The Stoay of the Sjlkk-Session. 218 

money, and in October, 174S, that he had in his possession 
<f 45 Os. 7d. Scots bad money and £5 lis. Scots good money. It 
would be to the credit of our predecessors, if we were able to say 
that they did not put into the plate, money which was not 
authorized by the law of the land. And certainly there was a 
good deal of coin at the time, which had become so defaced that 
it would not pass current. But truth requires it to be said as 
well, that there was a large amoimt of copper coin in circulation, 
which had been manufactured in an illegal way, so that it looks 
extremely suspicious that, at his balance in 1738, the treasurer 
should have in his hands, probably altogether in copper, the 
large sum of £60 Scots in bad coin. This sum, however, may 
have been the accumulation of years, and we shall give our 
predecessors all the benefit of that supposition. 

Special collections were made from time to time in accordance 
with the injunctions of the Assembly. Thus, on the 24th 
December, 1752, there was a collection for the suffering Protes- 
tants in North America, when the sum of £5 5s. stg. was 
received. On the 14th October, 1758, we read that " this day a 
collection was made for Eyemouth harbour, which amounted to 
£\S Scots."* On the 22nd September, 1754, a collection for New 
Jersey College was made, ^^ when besides £\S Scots of common 
collection, my Lord Dumfries gave «£^240 Scots."" 

///. — The Session and the Poor. 

It fell to the session to take charge of the poor. Even with 
the small population of the parish in the 18th century, great 



214 HurroBT of Old Cumnock. 

difficulty was found in meeting wisely the necessities of the case. 
It must be said that the session acted all through in this matter 
with prudence and generosity. 

To begin with, they took cognizance of persons, who preferred 
to beg rather than to work. A somewhat amusing instance of 
this may be given. In March, 1754, they were informed that 
"Janet Wyllie, a young, healthy woman, will not work, but 
habitually begs, which they judge unworthy of the Christian 
name.*** They accordingly cited her to appear before them. 
After a little delay she came, ^^ acknowledging that she was in 
use to beg since Beltane last, notwithstanding her youth and 
health. Thereupon she was rebuked, and being exhorted, pro- 
mised that, except in case of extreme necessity, she would not do 
it again."" 

Probably the session found it expedient to take up the case of 
Janet Wyllie, in order to give force to certain rules which, under 
the guidance of Mr. Muir, they had just drawn up. To this 
they had been stimulated by a most praiseworthy Act of the 
Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, issued first in 1748, and ordered to 
be read again from the pulpit in 1753. That Act called upon 
every session to look after its own poor, " that vagrants may be 
discouraged."" If vagrants foim a difficult problem in our own 
day, let us not forget that they were as difficult to deal with 150 
years ago. The session asked the heritor to meet with them to 
discuss the question. Logan of Logan and Douglas of Garrallan 
attended. nu*ee steps were agreed upon. 

1. A list of poor persons was prepared, to whom weekly or 
quarterly supplies were to be granted. 



The Story of the Eiek-Session. S15 

2. They decreed with great wisdom that, in the case of those 
who should be wholly dependent on them or dependent on them 
for life, an assignation should be subscribed on receipt of the 
first allowance, by which all the effects of the recipient were at 
death, to become the property of the session for the behoof of 
the poor. 

8. If any begged, the supply was to be stopped at once. 

It was further agreed that, as the interest of the endowments 
and half of the weekly collections would not suffice, an assessment 
should be made on the parish, and a meeting of heritors 
summoned for the purpose. Altogether this attempt to deal 
with pressing poverty in 1754 is most commendable, and the 
plan of the session extremely sagacious. 

In the end of 1800, the session foimd themselves face to face, 
not only with the ever present fact of poverty, but also with the 
problem of scarcity of food. This was in Dr. Miller's time. 
During the years 1799 and 1800, the harvests had been bad. 
Everywhere the price of the necessaries of life rose. The Lin- 
lithgow boll, for instance, which stood at 10s. 4d. in 1775, was 
£1 48. 8d. in 1799, and £1 158. 6d. in 1800. The country then 
was largely dependent for its support on itself, and did not draw 
supplies from the continent or from America. Every district 
felt the scarcity and the high price of provisions. The session 
took the matter up, and the town as well displayed a sympathetic 
interest. A combined meeting of the elders, the heritors and 
certain householders was held on the 4th December, 1800, ^ to 
devise the means most proper for suppljring the mercat of Cum- 
nock with meal, for the accommodation of poor housekeepers.^^ 



216 HisTOAT OF Old Cumnock. 

Those present agreed tx) furnish three hundred and forty bolls of 
meal, at the rate of eight or ten bolls a week, which they deemed 
su£Scient ^^ to answer the demands of poor housekeepers till har- 
vest next, and subscribed a paper to that effect.^ On the 
following week the session again met and deputed the minister to 
suggest to the heritors, that meal be supplied to poor persons 
weekly, ^^at a rate below mercat, not exceeding 9d. per peck, and 
for this purpose the sum of <f 100 stg. was advanced out of the 
poor fund. They urged also that a public subscription be 
inaugurated for this object as welL^ 

There can, therefore, be little doubt that in the hands of the 
kirk-session year after year, the poor of the parish were wisely 
and generously dealt with. A new state of things now prevails. 
The official relief of the poor is entrusted to other hands. Such 
a change was inevitable, after the unity of the Church of Scot- 
land was broken. Yet it may well be asked if the present sptem 
is as effective and as kindly as the old system, which made the 
poor of the parish the burden and the care of the Church of Him, 
who was Himself poor, and whose gospel, in its practical form, 
was to be preached specially to the poor. 

The mention of endowments, the interest of which went 
towards tlie relief of deserving cases of distress, calls attention to 
the benefit the (mrish has enjoyed, from the thoughtful gifts and 
legacies of persons connected with it. Some of these are of old 
standing. Previous to 1711, for instance, the session were able 
to lend 2000 merks Scots of poor money to the laird of Logan, 
who paid interest to them at the rate of 5 per cent. In 1713 
Mrs. Janet Watson, relict of Mr. John Watson, Episcopal minis- 



The Stoay of the Eiak-Session. 217 

ter at Auchinleck, bequeathed 60 merks Scots to the poor of the 
parish. In 1754, pa3rment was made to the session of a legacy 
of «£^50 stg., left by Mr. Mitchell, planter in Jamaica. 

A valuable privilege of another kind which may be enjoyed, 
not simply by the poor of the town, but by any who care to take 
the needful steps to procure it, may fittingly be mentioned here. 

By the will of the late Mr. Paterson, who made a large fortune 
in the West Indies, and who died in Ayr, the people of Cumnock 
have the perpetual right to send two patients at any time, under 
one condition, to the Royal Infirmary of Glasgow. The following 
minute tells the story. Under date S4th June, 1834, we read 
that ^^ the Rev. Mr. Bannatyne, having last week received from 
Glasgow a communication from Mr. William Orr, importing that 
the minister and kirk-session here are empowered in all time 
coming, to send two patients from this parish to the Glasgow 
Royal Infirmary, the session appoint the same to be recorded 
here as follows : — 

Copy of Mr. Orr' 9 Letter. 

^^ Glasgow, 16th June, 1884. 

" Sir, — I beg to send you an extract frt)m the records of the 
Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and to inform you that the legacy 
therein referred to having been paid some time ago, the directors 
of that institution are bound m all time coming, to admit into 
the Infirmary two patients, recommended by the minister and 
kirk-session of Old Cumnock. 

« I am, 

^^ Your most obedient servant, 

"William Ore. 
" The Rev. Mr. Bannatjme, 
^ Old Cumnock.'' 



218 HisTOKY OF Old Cumnock. 

The extract, referred to in the letter of Mr. Orr, contained a 
clause from the will of Mr. Paterson, in which he bequeathed 
^600 to the directors of the Royal Infirmary, on condition that 
six patients from the town of Kilmarnock, four from the town of 
Ayr, and two patients from each of the several parishes of 
Riccarton, Galston, Craigie, Old Cumnock and Newton-on-Ayr 
should at any time be received into the infirmary, if recommended 
by the session of their respective parishes. 

A boon of this kind is too valuable to be lost sight of. Though 
fix)m a business point of view, the Glasgow Infirmary made a bad 
bargain, we may the more readily rejoice in our good fortune, 
when we remember that we do not stand alone in the enjoyment 
of this privilege. 

More recently, in 1861, Major Greneral Campbell of Avisyard 
bequeathed <f 50 for the poor of the parish, and in 1895 Dr. 
James Lawrence, who practised in Cumnock for over forty years, 
left by will for the same object the sum of csP500. The example 
of these benefactors may well be commended to others still in 
our midst, whose worldly goods have increased. They may even 
be asked to improve upon the example, in one important par- 
ticular. The gifts to the suffering and to the poor would be 
much more valuable to those who share in them, and bring more 
joy to those who give them, if they were bestowed not when 
death separated them from their possessions, but in their lifetime, 
when their eyes could see and their hearts be cheered by the 
good that was done. 



\ 



The Stoay of the Eiek-Se9sion. 219 



IV. — The Personnel of the Session. 

It would not be possible to give any account of those who 
acted as elders in our parish. Their names from 1704 are all 
recorded in the session books. They were simply people of the 
town and neighbourhood, who were chosen to rule in the church, 
and solemnly set apart for that work in the presence of the con- 
gregation. The average number in the session in these olden 
days was seven or eight. The family names of some of them are 
to be found still in Cumnock. There appear, for instance, in 
1764 the names of John M^Geachan and Hugh M^Greachan; 
John Gibb and Alexander M^Kerrow; Andrew Hodge, John 
Templeton, and John Vallance. The treasurer of the church in 
1738, and for some years after, was James Howat. In 1793 
William Simson, the schoolmaster, who is better known, per- 
haps, as the friend and correspondent of Bums, was elected a 
member of session. 

Another name may be mentioned, which shows the close con- 
nection existing in former days between one of the landlords of 
the parish and the church of the people, to the great benefit, 
we may be certain, both of the landlord and of the church. On 
the 9th January, 1763, the Earl of Dumfries was ordained to 
the eldership by Mr. Muir, and received from the session the 
right hand of fellowship. The full minute is of interest. It 
runs in this way : — ^^ After the officer of session had called for 
objections three times at the most patent door of the church, 
against the ordination of the Earl of Dumfries as an elder in the 
parish, and no objection being offered, the session proceeded to 



220 History of Old Cumnock. 

ordain the said Earl of Dumfries, when the minister preached, 
the congregation being assembled, from 1 Timothy, v. 17, * Let 
the elders that rule well, etc.,^ and after sermon took the said 
Earl of Dumfries publicly engaged to the faithful performance of 
the several duties of that important ofBce, and set him apart to 
it by prayer. Upon the dismissing of the congregation, the 
Session received the said Earl of Dumfries into their number, and 
accordingly gave him the right hand of fellowship, when he in 
their presence subscribed the Westminster Confession of Faith 
and Formula of this Church.^ This somewhat cumbrous minute 
will be recognised by all, as a faithful statement of the solemn 
service in which members of the Presbytericui Church, whether 
they be peers or peasants, are ordained to the eldership. On the 
following Sabbath the newly ordained elder took part in the 
meeting of session, which dealt with the unruly home life of the 
husband and wife already noticed. 

Sufficient has now been said, regarding the old church records, 
to prove the interesting character of the information they reveal. 
Times have greatly changed since the first minute was written in 
1704 in their yellow pages. But no one who examines them can 
doubt that we have made progress. The story they tell is often 
dark, and doubtless the story of the present day faithfully told 
is dark enough too. Yet if the perusal of the session records 
makes one fact clearer than another, it is this — that Cumnock, 
with all the blots which may still stain its moral and social life, 
is a different place from the Cumnock of two hundred or one 
hundred years ago, and that the difference is vastly for the 
better. 



i 



The HEBiToas^ Minute Book. 2S1 



CHAPTER X. 



The Heritori Minute Book. 



" I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls 
The bnrial-groond God's Acie ! It is jost I 
It consecrates each grave within its walls. 
And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dost." 

— Long/dlow, 



In every parish the heritors have certain responsibilities resting 
upon them, as owners of land liable to public burdens. The 
authority they possess to-day is not so great as it was formerly, 
because certain privileges enjoyed by them have been transferred 
to the people of the parish. Once, for instance, the heritors, 
along with the minister, appointed the schoolmaster. Now the 
inhabitants, through their School Board, elect the teachers. Of 
some of their burdens, too, the heritors have been relieved, for 
the introduction of the poor law has freed them from any official 
connection with the parish poor. Up till the change, how- 
ever, in our system of education and in our management of the 
poor, the heritors played a very important part in the affistirs 
of Cumnock. Even yet, though their authority has been 
diminished, they retain certain rights, and are obliged to per- 
form certain duties. 



S22 HmoAY OF Old Cumnock. 

The heritors m the parish are seven in number. They are as 
follows : — 

(1) The Most Honourable the Marquis of Bute, E.T., Dum- 
fries House. 

(S) Major R. Bannatine-Allason of Logan. 

(8) The Trustees of the late P. C. D. Boswell, Esq., of 
Ganallan. 

(4) Captain R. M. Campbell of Avisyard and Glaisnock. 

(5) William Campbell, Esq., of Skerrington. 

(6) Greorge Mounsey, Esq., Auchinleek House. 

(7) The Glasgow & South- Western Railway Co. 

The minute-books of their court date only from the 11th 
August, 1803. All earlier records have disappeared. Their loss 
is to be regretted almost as much as that of the early session 
records. 

From the statements already made in treating of the poor in 
relation to the Session, it is clear that the heritors were interested 
in dealing with the question of social distress, and endeavoured 
to do something to meet pressing needs. One or two instances 
of their generosity may be given. Under date January 30, 1823, 
we read that ** the meeting, finding the ordinary source of supply 
inadequate for the poor at present, agree to a voluntary contri- 
bution of £50 stg.'' In May, 1825, they give «e30 for the same 
purpose — a donation which they repeat in June, 1834. Again, 
in December, 1837, it is said that ** the meeting, finding that the 
ordinary collections at church are inadequate to the present 
exigency, agree to assess themselves in the sum of jP30.'" In 1840 



4^ 

/ 


*3^>«-rf/'M; 




-4 




L' 

i 

1 

I 

1] 



The Heritors^ Mikute Book. 9SS 

ihey give the same contribution once more, and follow it in 1841 
by £i5. No grants are noted after 1845. The introduction of 
the Poor Law in that year explains their cessation. These 
instances, however, suffice to show that the heritors expressed 
their sjrmpathy practically with those who felt the keen edge of 
poverty. 

The repair of the church and manse of the parish, and the 
re-building of them when necessary, were also a burden upon the 
heritors. The present Established Church was built by them 
and opened in 1866. Its total cost was £69an 14s. 8d., in 
addition to the vault and gallery belonging to the Marquis of 
Bute. The old church, which it superseded, was erected in 1764, 
during the ministry of Mr. Muir. It held about seven hundred 
people, but of its erection no record remains. On one of the 
walls on the outside the jougs were fastened, but long before the 
church was taken down, they had disappeared. Only the mark 
was left on the wall, to show where offenders against civil and 
ecclesiastical law were wont to be pilloried. In 18SS, in order to 
provide more sittings in the church, the inside staii*s, which led 
to the galleries, were removed, and their place taken by two out-' 
side stairs, which were familiar features in the old building. 
These outside stairs were used by Parliamentary candidates as 
the hustings from which to address the people. The present 
manse was built in 1750, though large additions have been made 
to it from time to time. 

It was also the duty of the heritors to appoint the precentor. 
Mr. M^Kinnell, for instance, on being elected schoolmaster in 
1889, became ^ bound and obliged according to the terms of the 



224 Hi0TORY OF Old Cumnock. 

advertisement, to precent or to find a substitute.*" They also 
had to do with the beadle. In 1842 they doubled his salaiy — a 
step which might be regarded as an indication of great liberality, 
were we not informed that before it was doubled, the beadle's 
salary was'only one pound. 

The care of the churchyard as well rested upon the heritors 
till 1884, when it passed into the hands of the Parochial Board. 
The burying ground at the Barrhill began to be used as the 
ordinary place of interment, about the middle of the 18th 
century. The oldest stone records the death, in 1756, of a 
Frenchman who was killed at the building of Dumfries House. 
It is dose to Feden^s monument. A few burials had taken place 
earlier. 

Freviously the churchyard was round about the church, so 
that, when we pass through the Square, we are treading upon the 
dust of generations, who fought the battle of life before us in 
Cumnock and, having finished it, were gathered to their fathers. 
The date at which burials ceased in the ground round the church 
was somewhere about 1768 or 1769. The interment of the Laird 
of Logan in 1802 was exceptional. About 1768, too, the grave- 
stones were removed, and the whole area levelled for the purposes 
of general traffic. Chambers, in his Picture of Scotland^ refers 
to the soreness of feeling, even as late as his visit to Cumnock in 
1827, occasioned by the burial ground being closed and turned 
into a thoroughfare. We can easily imagine how such a feeling 
would prevail. 

Of course, when the churchyard encircled the church, there 
was no passage for traffic through it. Houses surrounded it 



The Heritors' Mindte Book. S5I5 

then, just as houses surround the Square now, the graves coming 
up to the walls of the houses. But while the fronts of the 
houses now ar^ towards the Square, the backs or gables were 
towards the churchyard then. Such streets as existed at the 
time, ran round about the churchyard on the far side of the 
buildings. The road, for instance, from Auchinleck to New 
Cumnock, could not originally have traversed the Square, as that 
was the churchyard. It went along Bank Lane and, turning up 
by Tower Street, crossed Glaisnock Street. It then continued 
up the Townhead, for the present road to New Cumnock is of 
modem date, and passing Barshare, struck out by Craigends 
towards New Cumnock. Similarly the road to Muirkirk also 
proceeded by the Townhead and, turning towards the left by 
Drumbrochan, joined the present Muirkirk road, somewhere be- 
yond Longhouse. Traces of both of these roads are still quite 
distinct. A little while before 1804, the road to Muirkirk was 
given up by the Townhead, and a new route provided by what 
we now call the Barrhill Road. Fi'om the head of Tower Street, 
it passed at the back of the Black Bull Hotel. Fart of the old 
way still remains there, to remind us of the narrowness of the 
streets a century ago. The awkwardness of the turning into the 
Black Bull lane, was increased by the presence of two or three 
thatched cottages, forming a continuation of Tower Street on its 
north side. Their removal is one of those improvements on 
which the town may congratulate itself. 

Lest it should be thought that a road, of sufficient width to 
allow traffic, must have existed from time immemorial as a means 

of access to the Established Church manse along Manse Lane, it 

p 



S86 HisTOBT OF Old Cuicnock. 

may be mentioned that the portion of the glebe, facing the Barr- 
hill Road, was not originally the minister's gi*ound. It only 
became so in 1769. Formerly the glebe extended in another 
direction, embracing ground towards the Lugar, occupied now in 
part by Millbank. Here is the statement of an excambion 
arranged on the one hand, by Rev. Thomas Miller, and on the 
other, by the Earl of Dumfries and Robert Wilson, surgeon. 
The date is 27th April, 1769, and the extract is taken from the 
Presbytery records. 

** The two ridges of the present glebe in the Holm, at the back 
of the town of Cumnock, together with the houses and yards on 
the glebe foresaid, shall henceforth appertain and belong to the 
Right Honourable Earl of Dumfries, and be exchanged for the 
Holm to the south of the manse, now given by his Lordship in 
lieu thereof, and that the said Holm, formerly the property of 
the said Earl, shall henceforth be a part and pendicle of the 
glebe of Cumnock.*" It is further added that the park of Kiln- 
holm belonging to Robert Wilson, surgeon, has also been trans- 
ferred to the glebe lands. Apparently, therefore, the entrance 
to the manse long ago would be somewhere in Lugar Street, and 
not on the Barrhill Road. It may be the excambion was 
arranged to give the present more suitable means of access. The 
heritors, of course, would have something to say about the ex- 
change of ground. Perhaps, too, the alteration of the glebe was 
connected with the removal of the churchyard, which took place 
at the same time. 

As it was the business of the heritors to look to the proper 
maintenance of the churchyard, we read sometimes in their 



The Heritors^ Minute fiooK. 827 

minutes with reference to the Barrhill churchyard : — ^^ This day 
the heritors perambulated the burying ground.'' At first the 
burying ground does not seem to have been protected by a wall. 
It doubtless had a hedge or a wooden fence, but there was no 
wall round it. Accordingly, in August 1808, the heritors in- 
spected the biuying ground, and ^' were unanimously of opinion 
that a stone wall, two ells high, should be built aroimd it.*** The 
subject had been before them on a former occasion, for some 
years before the witty Laird of Logan is reported to have given 
his opinion in the dry remark, ^^I never big dykes till the tenants 
complain.*" 

An entry of a much later date carries the imagination to 
somewhat gruesome scenes, in which some still living had a 
share. On 18th November, 1869, we are told the heritors 
^^ direct the small wooden house in the churchyard to be removed 
forthwith." This was the old watch-house which stood in the 
middle of the burying ground, and was used as a shelter, sixty 
years ago, by those who went at night to watch during the ex- 
citing time when body-snatching was rife. Stories still linger in 
the parish which recall the awe pervading the community, and 
the anxiety of those who had committed the bodies of their 
friends to the ground, that they should be allowed to rest in 
peace. One body was indeed raised by the hardened miscreants 
and carried to a little distance; but it was discovered and 
brought back. Another seems to have been successfully made 
away with. Our late townsman, Mr. John Samson, who long 
kept the secret to himself, and who never could be persuaded to 
let the name of the family be known, was in the habit of telling 



228 HunoBT of Old CuMNocf . 

what he himself had seen. The rumour had spread that a child^s 
grave had been disturbed. Mr. Samson undertook to have an 
examination made. Soon he saw that the little coffin had been 
removed. Nothing could be done to recover it. Anxious only 
to spare the feelings of the parents, he quickly told the workers 
to refill the grave, saying at the same time, ** I see now, that's 
quite enough." 

The heritors were also charged with the education of the 
children of the parish. They had to provide school accommoda- 
tion, as well as a dwelling-house for the master. The salary of 
the teacher, too, was a burden upon them, though they were at 
liberty to charge fees. In 1808, in accordance with an Act of 
Parliament passed at the time, they gave the teacher 400 merks 
Scots. The Act bade them pay a salaiy of from 300 to 400 
merks. They gave the maximum amount. As before, they 
continued to exact fees. 

In 1804, a new schoolroom was built on the site now occupied 
by the Clydesdale Bank, at a cost of i?850 stg. Attached to it 
were a library-room and a jail. One sees the reason why a 
library should be in connection with a school, but it is more 
difficult to understand why offendei-s against the laws of the land, 
should be imprisoned in part of the building used for the train- 
ing of the young. Such an object lesson in the awful results of 
indifference to law, might surely have been taught to the children 
in some other way. The heritors thought otherwise, and so the 
school and the jail formed part of the same building in Cumnock 
for many years. 

As the 19th century advanced, the hen tore, as behoved owners 



The Hebitobs^ Minute Book. 2S9 

of land to be tenanted in a short time by some of the boys then 
at school, arranged to provide them with special instruction in 
chemistry. In 1845 they agreed to pay a certain sum ^^to 
enable the schoolmaster to procure a set of chemical apparatus, in 
order that he may introduce agricultural chemistry as a branch 
of instruction in the parish school.^ More than fifty years ago, 
therefore, our far-seeing heritors tried to do what County Coun- 
cils regard it as their duty to do now, from time to time, in 
almost every district. 

The schoolroom was also regularly used for the purpose of 
holding Justice of Peace and other courts. Its proximity to the 
jail made this a convenient arrangement. But as the scholars 
required to be dismissed when the Justices assembled, it was 
resolved in 1839 that the school be no longer given for such a 
purpose. 

The heritors were generous enough to allow various evening 
meetings to be held in the school. In 1840, ^^ the schoolmaster 
was directed to grant the Total Abstinence Society the use of the 
schoolroom for this time,^ and in 1841 it was given to ^^ The Old 
Instrumental Band^' for a concert on the evening of the Mayfair. 

From this account of their doings during the greater portion 
of the nineteenth century, it may well be said that the heritors 
evinced a genuine desire to promote the well-being of the com- 
munity, and wevc willing, from time to time, to exceed the legal 
limits of their duty. They did so in their gifts to the poor, in 
their payment to the schoolmaster, and in the erection of a much 
more expensive church than the law required. When they see 



930 HuTOKT OP Old Cuioiocx. 

their way to build the spire which the church still lacks, a new 
architectural feature will be added to the town. 

The writer of the annals of Cumnock at the close of the 
twentieth century, will have a pleasant task to perform, if he is 
able to tell a story about the heritors similar to that which has 
been given in the foregoing pages. 



i 



Robert Burns and Cumnock. S31 



CHAPTER XI. 



Robert Bums and Cumnock. 



" Aold CoiU now may fidge fa' fun, 
She's gotten poets o' her ain, 
Chiela wha their chanters winna hain. 

Bat tane their lays, 
Till echoes a' reaoand again 

Her weel-sang praise." 



Robert Burns, who has shed so much lustre on Ayrshire, which 
gave him birth, had certain relations with Cumnock. We might 
safely conjecture that during his stay at Mossgiel, as well as when 
preparations were going on for his removal to EUisland in 
Dumfriesshire, he frequently visited our town. Direct evidence 
is forthcoming, however, to prove that he was seen sometimes on 
our streets. 

To his friend, James Smith of Mauchline, he writes in a letter 
which is simply dated Mossgiel, Monday morning, 1786 : — ** On 
Thursday morning, if you can muster as much self-denial as to 
be out of bed about seven o^clock, I shall see you as I ride 
through to Cumnock.*** The poet-farmer would cover the eight 
miles which lay between him and his destination on his favourite 
mare, to which he had given the historic name of Jenny Greddes. 
In 1788^ on the ^nd March, he stopped at Cumnock on his way 



232 HunoKT of Old Cuiinock. 

back from Dumfries, where he had been arranging about his new 
farm, and wrote one of his numerous letters to Clarinda, signing 
it with his Arcadian name of Sylvander. ** I am here,^ he says, 
^^ returning from Dumfriesshii'e, at an inn, the post-office of the 
place, with just so long time as my horse eats his com to write 
you.*" 

Bums had not any friend at this date in Cumnock to show 
him hospitality, but very soon there came here to live one, whose 
name is closely associated with that of our national poet, and 
who would only be too willing to have him as his guest. This 
was the schoolmaster, William Simson, a native of Ochiltree, 
where he had been teacher before he was appointed to what 
would be the more lucrative post in Cumnock. Simson was in 
the habit of corresponding with Bums, and even addressing to 
him some rhyming effusions, which he never published, though 
his great contemporary urged him to do so. His name and 
character Bums has enshrined in a familiar poetical epistle, 
beginning with the lines 



" I gat your letter, winsome Willie ; 
Wi' gratefu' heart I thank you brawlie ; 
Though I maun say't, I wad be silly, 

An' unoo vain, 
Should I believe, my coaxin' billie, 

Your flatteriu* strain.** 

We may well conclude that after " Winsome Willie "^ took up his 
residence in Cumnock, Bums would find his way to his house 
whenever he passed through our town. There is a well- 
authenticated tradition, too, which tells that Bums was on 
terms of intimacy with Mr. Hall, the Secession minister, on 



Robert Burns and Cumnock. S88 

whom he sometimes called. It is even said that the poet, appre- 
ciating the finished style of Mr. Hall as a preacher, submitted 
some of his verses to him for criticism. 

Another resident in Cumnock, whose descendants still live 
among us, had a close connection with Bums. This was Annie 
Bankine, daughter of the farmer of Adamhill, near Tarbolton. 
Her father, John Bankine, was a boon companion of the poet, 
who addressed him m the well-known strain — 

" roagh, rude, ready-witted Rankine, 
The wale o' eooks for fan and drinkin' I " 

Annie, who afterwards came to Cumnock as the wife of John 
Merry, and died only in 1843, had many reminiscences of Bums. 
It was she who sat beside him in church that Sabbath in 
Mauchline, when he caught sight of the creeping creature on the 
bonnet of a lady in front of him, and made it the theme of a 
poem which, though somewhat revolting in its subject, has gained 
world-wide fame from its closing stanza so often repeated — 

** Oh, wad some power the giftie gi*e ns, 
To see onrsera as others see ns ! 
It wad £rae monie a blander free ns, 

And foolish notion." 

Annie Bankine was sometimes escorted by Bums to her 
father'^s house, from festive gatherings in the neighbourhood. On 
one occasion he set himself to tell her weird stories of ghosts and 
goblins, with which hb vivid imagination filled the clumps of 
trees on the dark road. So powerfully did he depict the 
creations of his fancy, that Annie arrived at Adamhill in a state 
of great terror. Next day Bobbie came back to ask for her^ 



234 History of Old Cumnock. 

when he was so soundly rated by her mother, that he declared 
" he never had sic a downsettin^ in his life.*" 

The original of the Annie who walked with Bums through 
"^rhe Rigs o"* Barley,'' has always been a matter of dispute. 
Various claims have been put forth in behalf of different 
persons bearing the name. With a good deal to be said in its 
favour, the claim has been advanced in behalf of Annie Rankine. 
It is impossible, perhaps, to decide the question, but in the midst 
of the competing claims it is well to put in a word for the old 
friend of Bums, who lived so long in our town, and who was 
accustomed to speak of herself as the heroine of the song. The 
refrain is almost too familiar to be repeated — 

" Com riga an' barley rigs, 
An' corn rigt are bonnie ; 
I'll ne'er forget that happy night 
Amang the rigs wi' Annie." 

It is recorded that on meeting Bums after the publication of the 
song, she told him she had not expected to be celebrated by him 
in print. The poet naively replied, " Oh, ay, I was just wanting 
to put you in wi' the lave.*" To the last, Annie sang The Rigs 
o* Barley with great spirit, and always spoke affectionately of the 
memory of the author. 

A good many relics of Bums were in her possession. A 
punch-bowl was one of them, though unfortunately it was broken 
in pieces a few years ago. One of her descendants in Airdiie has 
a snuff-box which the poet used. Annie, likewise, had a very 
fine miniature portrait of Bums, and a tea-caddy, both of which 
he gave to her. They are now in the possession of Mr. Crichton 



^ 



Robert Burns akd Cumnock. 235 

of Hillside. To her dying day she kept some locks of Burns^ 
hair. On one occasion, a gentleman from Glasgow called at her 
house, to hear about Bums and see the relics she had of him. 
He was made happy by the gift of a small portion of the poef s 
hair. Some of his friends in Glasgow, admirers like himself of 
the Ayrshire bard, desired to become possessors also of some of 
his hair. In due time the request came. ^ Hoots,^ said Annie, 
^^ I canna be fashed seekin^ out Robbie'^s hair for them. FU just 
gie them a bit o^ my ain ; it^s the same colour.^' Proud posses- 
sors, therefore, of a lock of the poet's hair in Glasgow and 
elsewhere, need not be too certain of the genuineness of their 
treasure. After all, it may only be a bit of Annie Rankine^s. 

Another friend of Bums resided in the parish. This was John 
Kennedy, under-factor to the Earl of Dumfries. Bums sent to 
him the manuscript of The Cotter*s Saturday Nighty and begged 
him, in a poetical epistle which accompanied it, to meet him 
soon in one of his favourite " howfis ^ in Mauchline and " baud a 
bouze.'*' Possibly, too, it is he who figures in The KirK'e 
Alarm^ as 

" Factor John, Factor John, whom the Lord made alone." 

A good deal of correspondence passed between Kennedy and 
the poet Bums thus addresses him in a letter written early in 
August, 1786, when he thought himself on the eve of starting 
for the West Indies : — " Your tmly facetious epistle of the 3rd 
inst gave me much entertainment. I was only sorry I had not 
the pleasure of seeing you as I passed your way, but we shall 
brin^ up all our leeway on Wednesday, the 16th current^ when I 



236 HnroBY of Old Cumnock. 

hope to have it in my power to call on you and take a kind, very 
probaUy a last adieu, before I go to Jamaica.^ He anticipated 
the leave-taking in words which breathe the spirit of true 
comradeship — 

" Farewell, dear Friend I may gade lack hit yon. 
And 'mang her fayoorites admit yon 1 
If e'er detraction shore to emit yon. 

May nane believe him I 
And ony deil that thinks to get yon, 

Good Lord, deceive him." 

Bums^ proposed emigration, to which he thus refers, brought 
him into contact with another family in our neighbourhood. 
For it was a Douglas of Garrallan, to whom he was indebted for 
the situation in Jamaica to which he intended at the time to 
proceed. The story is told at length by Chambers in his Life of 
Bums (ed. Wallace, I., p. 316). 

"Patrick Douglas of Garrallan,*" so the record runs, "had 
been trained to the medical profession, and was for a time sur- 
geon in the West Lowland Fencible Regiment. In the list of 
shareholders in the ill-fated and short-lived Douglas and Heron 
Bank, ... he appears as a ^ surgeon in Air,' and as involved 
to the extent of £500. But although he lived for a time in 
Ayr, and was known as Dr. Douglas, he practised but little. He 
had succeeded to the family estate in 1776, and purchased a pro- 
perty in Jamaica, which one of his brothers, Charles, personally 
superintended. . . . Application was made to Dr. Douglas 
either by Bums, or more probably in his behalf by his friends. 
Dr. Douglas seems to have done for the poet all that was in his 
power. There is a tradition that when Bums was or believed 



Robert Burns and Cumnock. ^7 

himself in danger of imprisonment, his new friend actually 
arranged that he should sail direct from the port of Ayr, but 
that at the last moment Bums refused to go on board ship. 
Whether there be any truth in the story or not, Dr. Douglas 
applied to his brother in Jamaica. The result was the offer to 
Bums by Charles Douglas, of the post of book-keeper on his 
estates in the neighbourhood of Port Antonio (formerly St 
Francis), at the salary of <f30 a year for three years. The situa- 
tion was a poor one, but Bums accepted it.*" We know, of 
course, that the poet^s intention to leave his native land was not 
carried out, but the laird of Garrallan'^s interest in him is a 
strong link of connection between Bums and our parish. 

Another local proprietor has his memory perpetuated by 
Bums, though not altogether in the most agreeable way. The 
Rev. Dr. Andrew Mitchell, minister of Monkton firom 1775 to 
1811, was owner of the small estate of Avisyard. He was the 
son of Hugh Mitchell of Dalgain, and therefore belonged to an 
old Ayrshire family. He fell under the lash of Bums in con- 
nection with a famous heresy case, which came before the Pres- 
bytery of Ayr. Dr. William Macgill, one of the ministers of 
Ayr, had published a theological essay which was supposed to be 
tinged with Socinianism. The matter occupied the attention 
both of the Presbytery and Synod. The debates in the Church 
courts took the fancy of Bums, who employed his sarcastic pen 
to assail the reverend fathers and brethren. The KirVs Alarm 
was the fitting title he gave to his poetical effusion. Dr. Mitchell 
felt his scathing wit in the lines — 



! 

I 

j ids HuTOBT OF Old Cumnock. 

4 

* ■ 

I 

; " Andro Goak, Andro Goak, 

2 Ye may slander the book, 

j And the book nane the wanr, let me tell ye ; 

f Though ye*re rich, and look big, 



< 



I 



• 



Yet lay by hat and wig, 
And ye'U ha'e a calf's head o' sma* value." 

Evidently Burns had no great idea of Dr. Mitchell'*s intellectual 
power. The nickname " Gouk '^ and the expression "calFs head" 
doubtless describe, with a good deal of exactness, the amount of 
brain force which he possessed. Chambers tells us that ^^ an ex- 
treme love of money and a strange confusion of ideas characterized 
this clergyman. In his prayer for the Royal Family he would 
express himself thus : * Bless the King — his Majesty the Queen — 
her Majesty the Prince of Wales."* . . . Notwithstanding the 
antipathy he could scarcely help feeling towards Bums, one of 
the poet's comic verses would make him laugh heartily and con- 
fess that * after all he was a droll fellow ' " {Life of BumSj HI., 
p. 94). 

Dr. Mitchell, at his death in the eighty-sixth year of his age, 
left his property of Avisyard to his relatives, the Campbells of 
Auchmannoch, in whose possession it still remains. 

A case of another kind connected with Cumnock, has likewise 
been commemorated by Bums. His poem, Passio)Cs Cry^ be- 
ginning with the words — 

" Mild zephyrs waft thee to life's farthest shore," 

he is usually supposed to have put into the mouth of Mrs. 
Maxwell Campbell of Skerrington, whose domestic affairs formed 
the subject of investigation before the Court of Session in Edin- 
burgh. In passing, perhaps, it may be noticed in connection 



Robert Burns and Cumkock. ^9 

with this poem and The KirWs Alarm^ how very full and intimate 
the information was, which Bums possessed of the character and 
life of his contemporaries, at least in the counties of Ayr and 
Dumfries. He hits off the peculiarities of numberless individuals 
in a single word or clause, with an apparent accuracy which can 
only be regarded as surprising. 

Besides these allusions to persons in our parish, Bums makes 
one or two references to the district itself. In Death and Dr. 
Hornbook he sings — 

" The risiog moon began to glower 
The distant Cnmncck hills ont-owre," 

though, it may be, he is alluding to the New Cumnock heights. 

Then he weaves into his verse the name of the stream, which 

glides past our doors, and which he must have often crossed — 

" Behind yon hills where Lngar flows, 
*Mang moors an* mosses many, 0." 

And in his Lament for James^ Earl qfGUncaim^ he introduces — 

** The fading yellow woods, 
That waved o'er Lagar*s winding stream." 

Had Bums actually been located within our borders, there 
would certainly have come from his pen some rare gem, describing 
the beauties of Glaisnock Glen or the wooded grandeur of The 
Bank. Proximity to Peden'*s grave, too, would have made him 
break the almost perfect silence in which he wraps the sufferings 
of the Covenanters, and give us a stirring and pathetic song 
worthy of taking its place by the side of Scots wha hde. 

It only remains to be mentioned that his unfinished ballad, 
A Vision, which sometimes goes by the name of The Minstrel at 
Lindudenj was adapted by Bums to the tune of ^^ Cumnock 
Psalms.'* 



240 History op Old CuMNocit. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Past Industries. 

Clitterty, clatterty, 

Poll ap for Satarday ; 

My wob*8 oot, Dae paims to fill, 

And Monanday, batter-day. 

— -OW Weavers* Rhyme. 

The town of Cumnock has enjoyed a noteworthy industrial 
history. Some of the industries for which it was famous, have 
in the course of years entirely disappeared. Others have sprung 
up in their place, aiFording at the present time a fair amount of 
occupation, to those who are willing to pursue a quiet country 
life, in preference to the busy stir of a great commercial centi'e. 
Three of the staple industries of the town, during the first half 
of the nineteenth century, are now extinct. They were so im- 
portant while they lasted, that they deserve more than passing 
mention. These trades were boxmaking, handloom weaving, 
and muslin flowering. 

/. — Bomiaking. 

So common was this trade in the days of our grandfathers, 
that a visitor to Cumnock at the time might have looked upon 
it as the leading industry of the town. Everybody talked of 




Past Industries. S4l 



it, and almost everybody had some connection with it. Tlicre 
was hardly a home, which did not send out one at least of 
its inmates, regularly each morning, to take part in the pro- 
duction of boxes. Men, women and children were engaged in it. 
The habit of snuffing was then very general over the English 
speaking world, and the boxes that were made, were chiefly for 
holding snufF, though card boxes, as well as more useful work 
boxes, were also made. Several manufactories existed in Cum- 
nock in the heyday of the trade, which began in a very small way 
about the year 1800. No mention is made of it by Dr. Miller in 
his account of the parish in 1793. Its greatest prosperity was 
between 1820 and 1830. After that period it gradually died 
away. 

The Cumnock snuff-boxes had a specicil feature, by which they 
were long well-known, and for which they were greatly sought 
after. The secret was kept for a time, but at length it was dis- 
covered ; and the special characteristic of our local boxes became 
the common possession of all engaged in the trade. Their dis- 
tinguishing excellence lay in the hinge, which was most 
ingeniously constmcted. Very accurately it was called the 
"invisible wooden hinge."*' The honour of discovering it is 
attributed to William Crawford, a native of our town, who was 
working at the time in the shop of Mr. Wyllie, a gunsmith and 
watchmaker in Auchinleck. The story is as follows : — 

" Upon one occasion, Crawfoixl was employed to mend the 

joint of a Highland mull. In attempting to do so, the solder 

was so run into the joint, as to render it useless. In this 

dilemma, Wyllie and Crawford thought of various expedients, — 

Q 



242 History of Old Cumnock. 

amongst others, of melting the solder by the application of heat. 
This, however, was afterwards deemed impracticable, from the 
danger of injuring the hinge. Crawford at last succeeded in 
making an instrument, by which he cut the solder out of the 
joint in a very neat manner. This tool Mr. Wyllie and he 
afterwards used, in forming the joints of the wooden snuff-boxes, 
which came so much in vogue. Between them they kept the 
secret for twelve years, when, a misunderstanding occurring, 
Crawford removed to Cumnock, and commenced business on his 
own account. Unfortunately, he employed a watchmaker in 
Douglas to make a duplicate of the instrument ; and suspecting 
its use, a person employed by the watchmaker divulged the 
secret. From that period new hands daily commenced making 
boxes; till now an article, which would have then cost five 
pounds, can be had for eighteenpence." (Paterson^s History of 
the Counties of Ayr and Wigton^ Vol. I., p. 181.) 

Another version of the discovery of the hinge is given by 
Robert H. Smith, in his Memoir of Sir Alexander Boswell. " An 
incident,*" he tells us, " which is said to have occurred during the 
sojourn of one of Sir Alexander'^s guests, merits preservation as 
connected with the rise of fancy wood-work in Cumnock, Ochil- 
tree, Auchinleck, Mauchline and Catrine, a department of 
industry for which Ayrshire has since deser\edly become famous 
all the world over. It originated, says an old issue of the Scots 
TirmSj in the simple circumstance of a Frenchman, visiting at 
the house of Sir Alexander Boswell, having sent his box to the 
village to be replenished with snuff. It was accidentally broken, 
and the only person who could be got to mend it, was John (?) 



Past IxDirsTfttEs. 24^ 



Crawford, the father of the trade." After the mull had been 
repaired, Crawford ^ sought it as a model to make another for 
Sir Alexander, and in this he succeeded so well, that others were 
ordered and so on, till the manufacture of these boxes became his 
sole employment." 

Though these two stories diiFer slightly in detail, they evidently 
refer to the same incident The one really supplements the 
other. Both of them give to Crawford, the honour of introducing 
the hmge into the boxes of the district. And as he was one of 
Cumnock^s sons, we claim the credit of the invention for our 
parish. 

The wood used in the manufacture of these boxes was the 
plane or sycamore tree, which from the closeness of its texture 
was eminently suited for the purpose. In order to have it 
thoroughly seasoned, it was kept five or six months before being 
used. The work of producing and finishing the boxes was 
lengthy. One set of workers made the boxes; others, with more 
or less artistic skill, painted scenes or portraits on the lids, and 
sometimes on the bottom and the sides as well. A third set, 
chiefly composed of women and children, varnished and polished 
tliem. The varnishing process took a number of weeks. Even 
six weeks were not considered too long for varnishing the finest 
boxes. If spirit varnish was used, thirty coats were sometimes 
put on. Copal varnish required only fifteen coats. When the 
varnishing was completed, the surface was polished with ground 
flint, and then the box was ready for the markets of London and 
Glasgow. 

The prices got for the best executed boxes, with highly- 



244 HisTOBY OF Old Cumkocs. 

finished designs, were ver}' big. As much as £6 or £7 could be 
obtained for them. Inferior boxes, of course, were cheaper. It 
was the quality of the workmanship and the beauty of the paint- 
ing, which regulated the selling price. A log of plane tree, 
purchased for twenty-five shillings, was calculated by the 
purchaser, in 1825, to be sufficient to make «fSOOO worth of 
snuff-boxes (Chambers, Picture of Scotlandy Vol. I., p. S22). 

High wages went with good trade. From 1820 to 1830, a 
boxmaker could easily earn £\ Is. a week, a very large wage at 
that time. The scene-painter could earn £9, 2s., and the 
vamisher 12s. After 1830 the wages went graducilly down, till 
only about half the amount mentioned could be made. The 
cause of the decrease of prosperity is quite manifest A great 
social custom, long adopted by the male portion of the popula- 
tion, was dying out. Men were ceasing to snuff, and therefore 
they ceased to need snuff-boxes. An interesting book could be 
written on the effect of fashion and the change of custom upon 
trade. Not the least interesting chapter would be the extinction 
of the snuff-box industry, owing to the people giving up the 
habit of snuffing. In 1825 the value of the boxes sent out Avas 
jeeOOO ; in 1837 it was onlv ^^1,600. 

Before the end came, somewhere about 1850, the practice of 
putting expensive designs on the lids was given up. The boxes 
were no longer hand-painted, but chequered in an ingenious way 
by machinerj', after which printed pictures were stamped upon 
them. A verv common device ere the industrv ceased, was the 
imitation of tartan. A good deal of business was always done 
by the boxmakei-s, on the anivul of tlie mail-coaches on their 



Past Industries. 246 



way to Glasgow or Carlisle. Many a snuff-box was exchanged 
for a guinea while the coach waited. 

One of the Cumnock boxes has an interesting history. It was 
presented to the Queen by the Marquis of Ailsa. His lordship's 
order was of a special kind. It came to Mr. Lammie, and for 
some time taxed the ingenuity of all in the trade. A work-box 
was wanted in imitation of the poems of Bums in two volumes, 
placed above each other in such a way, that the front of the one 
volume and the back of the other should be seen at the same 
time. The difficulty, of course, consisted in turning the wood 
and adjusting the hinges so as to secure the resemblance 
required. The task was almost given up as hopeless, when John 
Samson, afterwards the well-known merchant in our town, but 
then a boxmaker, hit upon the mesuis of fulfilling the order. In 
due time the box was completed, and found its way into the 
hands of Her Majesty. 

It was only to be expected that the high wages received by 
the miniature painters would attract young men with artistic 
skill from other parts of the country. This actually took place. 
Three artists were here for a time, who afterwards rose to great 
fame. 

The first of them was destined to reach the highest place of 
honour in the world of Scottish art. His name was Daniel 
Macnee. At the age of nineteen, he came to Cumnock as an 
apprentice in Adam Crichton's boxwork, but he did not remain 
long. Some anatomical drawings, which he executed for Dr. 
James Broi^Ti, gained for him ist situation in the atelier of Mr. 
Lizars, the famed Edinbui^h engraver. His widowed mother, 



246 HuTOBY OF Old Cumnock. 

• 

who sometimes came from Glasgow to see him, told his landlady 
in the Townhead, ^ that they could make nothing else of Daniel ; 
he would just sit and draw and paint.^ One, who still remem- 
bers the young lad going to and from his work, remarked, in his 
quiet, pawky way, some time ago, ^ Ay, Macnee had a great 
name in Edinburgh by and by, but when he was here he was na 
muckle thocht o\'" The humour of this we can all appreciate, 
and doubtless there were some engaged in box-painting along 
with him, who failed to detect the genius and the fineness of 
touch, which are certain to have distinguished even the early 
productions of one of the greatest portrait-painters of our time. 

A curious incident is told regarding a piece of Macnee^s 
Cumnock work. One evening, long after he had risen to fame, 
he was dining at Bcdlochmyle House. The conversation turned 
on Ayrshire scenery. Macnee, who said he had not seen much 
of it, referred to one scene of great beauty with which he had 
been impressed, and which he had sketched as a lad in order to 
paint it on a snufF-box, about to be presented to a young man 
leaving for South America. One of the guests immediately 
handed his snuff-box to the great painter, who, looking at it 
with surprise, remarked, " That's the very box.*" " And I,'* said 
the other, " am the young man.*" The owner of the box, which 
thus was seen again by the artist after the lapse of forty years, 
was the late Dr. Ranken of Demerara, whose representatives in 
Ayr still possess it. 

Other boxes which felt the touch of his brush must be in 
existence, treasured simply as mementos of a bygone trade. If 
their possessors only knew that they owed part of their beauty 




Past Industries. S47 



to the skilful hand of the young painter, who afterwards became 
Sir Daniel Macnee, President of the Royal Scottish Academy, 
they would deem them worth their weight in gold. 

The second distinguished artist^ who worked in Cumnock, was 
Horatio M^Culloch, so deservedly noted for his Highland land- 
scapes. No reminiscence of his stay, however, seems to linger in 
the town. The fact only is certain that he served here for some 
time, trying his ^^ prentice han' ^ in one of our local box-works. 

The third was William Leighton Leitch, who became a water* 
colour painter of the greatest eminence. His stay in Cumnock is 
still remembered by old residents. The story of his struggle 
with adverse circumstances, till he reached his position of honour 
and fame, is so full of interest, that it may be briefly told as a 
stimulus to others. It is recorded at length in a small volume 
by Mr. MacGeorge of Glasgow, published in 1884, and dedicated 
to Queen Victoria : — 

^^ Coming home one afternoon from his work (of scene-paint- 
ing),^ says his biographer, '' he met a young artist fnend, who 
told him that several of his early associates, including Macnee 
and Horatio M^Culloch, had gone to Cumnock, in Ajrrshire, and 
had there found employment in painting snuff-boxes, . . . . 
and he strongly advised Leitch to go there also. This, after 
consulting his friends, he resolved to do. He first went by him- 
self, and soon after Mrs. Leitch joined him with their baby 
daughter. From working on a scale so large as the painting of 
scenes for a theatre, to the very minute work of snuff-box 
painting, was a great change, but he very soon got into the way 
of it, and easily found employment. It was often difiicult, how- 



i4S HinTOEY OK Old Cumnock. 

ever, to get payment for his work, and he and his young wife 
underwent at this time some hard trials. For about a year he 
worked for the general trade in Cumnock, finding employment 
from different dealers, when Mr. Smith, the head of a lai^ 
establishment in Mauchline, having discovered his superior 
talent, engaged him to superintend his painting-department, and 
here he did some beautiful work in box-painting.*^ 

After spending some time in Mauchline, Leitch proceeded to 
London. Eager, however, to excel in the art he loved so well, 
he set out in 18S3 for Italy and other continental countries, 
remaining abroad for four years. During this time he made 
himself acquainted with the masterpieces of the great painters, 
and gave himself up to unremitting study. On his return to 
London, he found profitable employment in teaching and water- 
colour painting, and also in making drawings to be engraved for 
illustrated works. The Duchess of Sutherland became one of his 
pupils. In 184S, she showed a portfolio of his studies to the 
Queen and Prince Albert. Two of them he was asked to copy 
for the Queen The result he tells himself in the following 
words. Shortly after " I had a note from Lady Canning (to 
whom I had been giving lessons), saying it was the Queen'^s desire 
tliat I should go down to Windsor, to give Her Majesty a series 
of lessons in water-colour painting."*' 

During the next twenty-two years, Leitch gave attendance 
from time to time on the Queen at Windsor and Osborne, as well 
as at Balmoral and Buckingham Palace. She was so delighted 
with his method of teaching, that he was commissioned to super- 
intend the art studies of all the members of the Royal Family. 




Past Industries. 249 



He gave lessons also to the Princess of Wales after her marriage. 
Among his other pupils were many ladies of noble rank both in 
England and in Scotland. The Duchess of Buccleuch, the 
Duchess of Manchester and the Countess of Rosebery were 
among the number of those who profited by his instructions. In 
1864 the Queen conferred on him an annuity, ^' in consideration 
of his long and valued services to Her Majesty.*^ 

Some idea of his diligence in his work may be gathered from 
the fact that the pictures, left by him at his death, realised 
i?7000. Such a competent critic as Sir Coutts Lindsay of the 
Grosvenor Gallery says of him, ** I never met anyone who could 
impart knowledge so clearly, or who had so definite a system of 
art instruction — ^precept ever followed by example, and both 
equally clear." From the box factory in Cumnock to the draw- 
ing-room of the palace, where he had oiu* noble Queen as pupil, 
is no mean accomplishment for a man to achieve. Yet that was 
done by one who worked cilongside of men, who still walk our 
streets. 

It was no uncommon thing in this trade for boxes to be sent 
out, on the lids of which were inlaid small pieces of wood taken 
from places of historic interest. Sometimes these were placed in 
the bottom of the box as well. One of the finest specimens of 
this kind of workmanship is in the possession of Mr. Greorge 
Stoddart. The box was made about 18^ by Greorge Crawford, 
familiarly known as " The Colonel.'* Sixteen different pieces of 
oak wood are simk in it, eight in the lid, and eight in the bottom. 
It is of the ordinary snufl-box size, and seems to have been well 
used^ as the various inscriptions on the inlaid portions are a good 



S50 HifioiY OP Old Cumnock. 

deal rubbed. They are all l^ble, however, and may be given 
here in order to show the desire of the box-makers, to make their 
manufactures as valuable and attractive as possible in the eyes of 
the public. For it cost both time and money to get possession 
even of a square inch of some of the kinds of wood wrought into 
this box. 

The eight pieces in the lid with their inscriptions are as 
follows : — 

1. Oak of Lord Nelson^s Flagship Victory. 

S. Oak of the State Prison on the Bass Rock, 1670. 

S. Oak of the Ship which brought over King William 
and Mary, 1688. 

4. Oak of Alloway Kirk. 

5. Oak of Dunnottar Castle. 

6. Oak of the Piles of London Bridge, built 1176. 

7. Oak of the Bishop^s Palace, Orkney. 

8. Oak of the Royal George^ sunk 1782, raised 1810. 

The pieces in the bottom are : — 

1. Oak of HohTood Palace. 

2. Oak of Montrose Steeple. 

3. Oak of John Knox^s House, Edinburgh. 

4. Oak of the BcUcrophoiiy Ship of War. 
6. Oak of Glasgow Cathedral. 

6. Oak of the Tower of London, built 1067. 

7. Oak of Airlv Castle. 

8. Oak of Elgin CathedmL 



Past Industries. 251 



It will therefore he admitted that this old relic, fashioned 
from so many different portions of wood, each with its own his- 
toric associations, is a imique and interesting specimen of the 
snuff-box trade, which made Cumnock so famous during the first 
half of the nineteenth century. 

The leading box-makers, each of whom had a separate estab- 
lishment, were Adam Crichton, Peter Crichton, Greorge Crawford, 
Alexander Lammie, Greorge Buchanan, and James Drummond. 
In 1848 only Peter Crichton, Alexander Lammie, and James 
Drummond carried on the trade. A joint company also started 
business in the upper portion of the Lugar Mills, but a fire in 
the premises put a speedy stop to their work. 

It need only be further added in connection with this vanished 
industry, that the perfection attained in the manufacture of 
boxes gave rise to a proverb, once more familiar than it is now — 
« As close as a Cumnock hmge.'' 

//. — Weavinff. 

The second industry of our town which is now practically 
extinct, but which for generations afforded employment to 
a large section of the community, was hand-loom weaving. 
When it was started as a special trade in Cumnock, it is 
impossible to say. All through our history, weaving of some 
kind for local purposes must have been prosecuted, for the simple 
reason that the art of weaving is coevcil with civilization. In the 
martyr lists, Greorge Crawford of Cumnock, who suffered death 
as a Covenanter at Edinburgh in 1666, is described as a weaver. 



252 HisTOEY OF Old Citmnock. 



As a distinct bmnch of trade, to which men devoted their whole 
time, we find it thoroughly established in our town by the close 
of the eighteenth century. Dr. Miller tells us that in 179S there 
were twenty-eight weavers besides apprentices. As most of these 
apprentices, whose number is not given, sat at looms in their 
masters^ shops, we are not surprised to find him say that at the 
time seventy-four looms existed in Cumnock. 

The great scat of the weaving trade was the Townhead. 
Looms could be heard in other places, as in New Bridge Street, 
and even down at Bridgend Cottages, where there were once nine 
looms, but the gi'eat majority of them were worked in the Town- 
head. That was empliatically " The Wabsters' Street." Almost 
every house in it had its set of looms. When the trade was at 
its height, there were three shops in the Townhead which had 
six looms each, and six shops which had four looms each, besides 
others with a smaller number of looms. One hundred and twenty 
men were employed, with more or less regularity, at the work up 
to alK)ut the year 1845, when the giudual introduction of looms 
driven by steam, put a decided and perpetual check on the use of 
hand looms. The weavcra of our town, however, died liard. 
They did not give up the work to which they had been trained, 
without a brave and patient stniggle. They pei'severed till 
poverty stared them in the face, and they were forced to break 
up the looms, at which their fathers and grandfathers had sat, 
and turn to new employment. 

One hundred and twenty looms at work meant more than one 
hundred and twenty men and boys engaged in weaving. The 
yam required to be spun, and so the women of the house with 



l^AST Industrie. S5d 



skilful fingers prepared the thread, sitting patiently at the wheel 
hour after hour, or snatching broken time from household duties, 
in order to supply a plentiful stock of full shuttles to the busy 
workers. Cumnock, if much quieter then than now, must have 
presented a very business-like appearance with its numerous 
weaveiV shops, while the quick click of the shuttle and the heavy 
thud of the treadle must have been one of the cheeriest sounds 
heard in our streets. For it told of willing toil and of homes 
made comfortable by labour and by labour^s reward. 

A throb of pity passes even yet through the heart, as mention 
is made of the straits to which the old weavers were put in en- 
deavouring to keep up a dying industry. The following extract 
from the Heritors^ Minute Book gives to those who did not pass 
through that period, a glimpse of the strain to which many were 
put, when the old state of things was disappearing. In November 
1861, the Rev. Mr. Murray reported " that at a meeting held 
some time ago, the heritors agreed to give £SOy on condition of 
the inhabitants of the town subscribing <£^10, for the purpose of 
providing webs for the weavers out of work.*" This condition 
was fulfilled, and the weavers got their webs. But, that the 
demand had well nigh ceased, is evident from a later minute, 
which tells that six webs were still in Mr. Murray's hands for 
disposal. 

During its prosperous days, the industry was so large, that 
several agents lived in Cumnock, who made it their business to 
secure the webs from the weavers after they were completed. 
These men usually represented Glasgow firms. Sometimes they 
bought on their own account This was certainly the easiest 



So 4 History of Old Cumnock. 



method for the sale of their cloth on the part of the weavers. 
Means of transit, before the railway, to the great markets was 
slow. The journey to Glasgow with a bale of goods meant time, 
llie weaver was saved that trouble by disposing of the finished 
article to an agent, who was able to pay him ready money. The 
cloth that went out from the Cumnock looms was of different 
kinds. For the mast part it was made of wool or cotton, but 
pieces of silk were not uncommon. 

Mention has been made of apprentices. Young lads, who 
sought to be initiated into the mysteries of weaving, were bound 
for a certain number of years to an employer, who undertook in 
tiun to teach them all that was necessary for the carrying on of 
the trade by themselves. The following quotations from an 
indenture, dated 8th April, 1796, and now in the possession of 
Mr. John Moodie, Gatehouse, are not without interest for the 
light they throw upon the methods adopted in giving instruction 
in the work of weaving, and the duties the apprentice was 
expected to perform. The (contracting parties were John Grier, 
weaver, and James M'Millan, son of John McMillan, tailor. 

The deed Iwars witness, ** that the said James McMillan, with 
the sjKHnal consent of his jwronts, becomes apprentice and servant 
to the said John drier for the whole space of three years . . . 
during all which si^uv of time he shall serve his foresaid master 
honestiv and faithfullv« and shall not absent himself from his 
umslorV work itoithor by day nor bv night, holy day nor week 
day, \Mtliout HlnM-ty fii-st iisktxl and obtained; and for every day's 
aKMMuv without loavo, ho shall j>ay one shilling sterling or two 
daxN tor oiu\ . . . .Vml further, the said apprentice binds 



Past Industries. 255 



himself for the first three months, to give his said master the 
whole product arising from his work, and during the rest of his 
apprenticeship to allow his master fourpence of every shilling he 
shall earn. 

*^ And on the other part, the forementioned John Grier be- 
comes bound to teach, learn and instruct the forementioned 
James McMillan in his whole art and trade of a weaver, and shall 
do the utmost of his power to make him knowing and expert 
therein, and shall not conceal any part thereof from him, so far 
as it be practised and said apprentice is capable to take up. 

^* James Ranken, weaver in Cumnock, becomes cautioner and 
full obligant for and with John Grier for his implementing as 
above. Both parties bind and oblige themselves to implement 
the whole foresaid premises to each other, under the penalty of 
five pounds sterling to be paid by the party failing to the party 
observing or willing to observe. 

*^ In witness whereof these presents wrote upon this and the 
two preceding pages of stamper by Hugh Thomson, tanner in 
Cumnock, this eighth day of April, one thousand seven hundred 
and ninety six years. . . . Further, the foresaid John Grier, 
the master, binds himself to allow James McMillan, his apprentice, 
liberty to go to the night school two months each winter, and 
for every two pound of candle the apprentice shall use in his 
work, the master shall provide him in a third. 

John Griee. 
James M^Millan.^ 



^56 ItisTORY OF Old CuiikociL 

This document, duly drawn up and signed before witnesses, 
shows us the usual form in which terms of indenture between 
weavers and their apprentices were recorded. No lawyer was 
employed. The writer in this case, as the deed tells us, was the 
tanner of Cumnock. The arrangement about the night school 
and the supply of candles is interesting. Sometimes it was 
stipulated in such agreements, that the apprentice should be at 
liberty to go to the shearing in harvest time. If he remained at 
the loom, all he earned was his own. Weavers made it a point, 
unless they were very busy, of going to the harvest field in 
autumn. Payment for such labour was good, and the indoor 
worker laid in a stock of health which was beyond price. 

It should also be mentioned that silk weaving received special 
attention from the last Countess of Dumfries. The *^ Jenny- 
house'^ she erected for that purpose in Lugar Street, is still 
known by that name. But the industry, even under such noble 
auspices, did not long continue. 

This Countess of Dumfries was on the most friendly terms 
with the people of Cumnock, and exerted herself in many ways 
for the good of the community. She earned her homely habits 
so far, that she sometimes looked into the weavers' shops and ex- 
pressed interest in the work. An order, of course, was occasion- 
ally left, or a purchase carried off*. She liked a joke too, and the 
" wabstcrs " of these good old days were able to crack a joke with 
the lady of the manor. On one occasion she stopped at the 
open window of a weaver's shop, where a plaiding web was being 
woven. " How much an ell do you get for that ? *" she asked. 
The weaver merrily i-eplied, " Three Imwbees, pappin' an' a'.**' If 




Past IxDusTRms. iSH 



such days returned to Cumnock, and our landowners now held 
friendly intercourse with the people of the parish, both land- 
owners and people would be a good deal the better of it, and the 
social atmosphere we breathe be wonderfully softened. 

At the present moment the old familiar sound of the shuttle 
and the treadle can still be heard in three shops — one in the 
Townhcad, another in the Ayr Road, and the third at Glaisnock 
roadside. They are relics of a bygone day, which serve to show 
what our town was like, when one hundred and twenty looms 
moved unceasingly A-om morning till night. 



///. — Muslin Flowering'. 

The form of needle- work, whose local name of " Flowering '' 
is so well known, was a favourite and profitable industry 
among the women of Cumnock. Many still living engaged 
in it in their youthful days. It consisted of various patterns 
sewed on muslin and cambric for ladies^ dresses, children'*s robes, 
etc. The demand for work of this kind done in Ayrshire was 
very great. Edinburgh, London, and Dublin provided ready 
markets for it. It also found its way to France, Grermany, 
and Russia. Bremner, in his Industrie of Scotlandj thus 
speaks of it : — ^** The lasses of Ayrshire showed great aptitude 
for embroidering, and soon made a name for the excellence of 
their work — indeed, for a long time, the embroidered muslins 
wefe sold in the home and foreign markets as Ayrshire needle- 
work '' (p. 806). 

It is not possible to say how many persons were engaged in 



^58 History of Old Cumnock. 

this industry. One " flowerer," still with us, tells how, in her 
father^s house, two sisters and she did the house work week about, 
and thus had a fortnight each to devote to the needle. All were 
glad when the week'*s housekeeping came to an end. There 
must, however, have been a considerable number of people em- 
ployed in embroidering, for several agents lived in Cumnock 
ready to take up finished work, and forward it to the wholesale 
merchant. The newspapers of the time contain frequent adver- 
tisements, calling attention to this kind of fancy work. An 
establishment for the sale of it existed in Edinburgh, under the 
name of the " Ayrshire Needlework Warehouse.*" 

The profits earned by the workers were good. Eighteen pence 
a day was a common wage. A good flowerer could make two 
shillings, and sometimes even more. This industry, however, has 
completely died out, and the art of flowering is practically a lost 
art to the young women of the present day. 

In addition to these three great industries of Cumnock in 
former days, two others may be briefly mentioned. 

Tanning was carried on to some extent long ago. The street 
we know by the name of " The Tanyard,'' indicates the locality 
in which it was prosecuted. Though the trade has been given 
up for more than fifty years, some old people still remember the 
tanpits close to the banks of the Lugar. In the Register of the 
Privy Council for 1622, a very interesting reference occurs to 
tanning in our district. It is there recorded that Lord John 
Erskine laid a complaint before the Council to the effect, that 
although he had lately " to his grite charges and expensis broght 
within this kingdome a nomber of strangeris, skilled and expert 



I 



Past Industries. iSd 



men in the tanning of ledder, to instruct the tanneris and barkeris 
of ledder in this kingdome," nevertheless, Matthew Mure in 
Cumnok, Patrick Harvie in Cumnok, Andrew Donald there, 
Richard Aird there, and others elsewhere, have resolved to their 
utmost to ^^ oppose thame selfis aganis this reformation, and to 
foister and interteny the foirmair abussis in that trade, quhilkis 
are notourly known to be most hurtful and prejudicial, not onlie 
to thame selfis but to the commounweill.^ It is further stated 
that these persons not only refuse instruction from the skilled 
foreigners, but will not allow hides to lie "in thair pottis" 
during the space prescribed, but send them to the market raw to 
the abuse of the li^es. 

For their opposition to the decree of the Council, Matthew 
Mure and. his fellow tanners in Cumnock were denounced rebels. 
The incident is of value in as much as it shows that in the 
beginning of the seventeenth century, tanning was carried on to 
a considerable extent in our town. Perhaps the fact that the 
expert strangers introduced into the countiy were Englishmen, 
explains why the leather merchants of Scotland looked with sus- 
picion upon the new methods brought under their notice. 

Closely connected with tanning is the trade of shoemaking, 
and so we find that as long as the tanpits continued in operation, 
a very fair business was done in the production of boots and 
shoes. The Statutical Account puts the number of shoemakers 
in 1793 at thirty-three in a population of 1,632. Accordingly, a 
good deal of the work done by these thirty-thrfee tradesmen, 
must have found purchasers outside the parish. The figures 
show that no fewer than six thousand pairs of shoes and one 



260 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

Iiundrcd jwiirs of boots were turned out in 1792. A side light is 
here thrown on the fashions of the time. A hundred years ago 
it was much niorc common to wcai* shoes than boots. In our 
day the local demand for foot gear is supplied by those engaged 
in the trade, but we furnish no market beyond our own doors. 
And as even the supply the shoemakers arc asked to provide is 
com|)arntively small, owing to the large sale of ready made boots 
and shoes brought from the great factories of the country, shoe- 
making, like the trade of tanning, its elder sister, may correctly 
be descrilxjd as one of the past industries of the town. 

ITie sur>'ey, therefore, which we have made of the commercial 
condition of Cumnock during the first half of the 19th centurvi 
reveals the astounding fact that three large remunerative trades 
and two smaller ones have disappeared from our midst Box- 
making, handloom -weaving, muslin-flowering, tanning, and shoe- 
making, no longer exist to give occupation to the people. 
Certainly they passed away by degrees, so that their extinction 
was not the act of a day, throwing out of employment un- 
expectedly the great majority of the tradesmen. Yet, had the 
question been put to a native of the town three-quarters of a 
century ago, " How would Cumnock prosper without boxmaking, 
without handloom -weaving, without m uslin- flowering ?**' he 
would unhesitatingly have replieil, " Not at all ; the town is 
certain to die if these trades forsake it." But the town lives 
still in spite of their death. AVhat other industries have tiiken 
their plac*e, and abide with us to-day, must be told in another 
chapter. Meantime, this account of the life of our town may be 
fitly closed with the following table of the occupations of the 




Past Industries. 



861 



grown-up persons in the parish in 179S. We are indebted for it 
to Dr. Miller. 



Clergymen, 1 

Established Schoolmaster,... 1 
Surgeons, ... ... ... S 

Shopkeepers, ... ... 10 

Innkeepers and Stablers, ... 4 

Carpenters, 9 

Cart and Mill Wrights, ... 8 
v/Oopers, ... ... ... 9 

Masons, ... ... ... 12 

Smiths, ... ... ... 9 

Weavers, besides apprentices, S8 
Shoemakers, ... ... 33 

Tailors, ... ... ... 15 

Stocking Weavers, ... ... 7 

Waukers, 2 

Tanner, ... ... ... 1 



Gardener, 
Millers, . . . 
Carriei-s, ... 



Carters for Coal and Meal, 8 
Day Labourei's, ... ... 36 

Skin and Wool Dealers,... S 
Chelsea Pensioners, ... 4 
Lint Di'essers, ... ... 3 

Butchers,... ... ... 3 

xSaKers, ... ... ... x 

Colliers and Coal Heavers, 18 
Male Servants, Domestic 

and Farm, 44 

Female do. do. ... 72 
Average Number of Poor, 23 



1 
3 
5 



Dr. Miller also gives us a list of wages : — 

Farm Servants, from £1 to £\Q per annum. 

Women do. from £i to £4^ do. 

A man for harvest, 25s. 

A woman for do. 18s. 

Domestic servants get nearly the same as farm servants. 

A day labourer, without meat, lOd. to 15d. 

A mason do. ... ... Is. lOd. 

A carpenter do Is. 2d. 

A tailor, with maintenance, 6d« 



S6S History of Old Cumnock. 



Living must have been extremely cheap a few years before Dr. 
Miller wrote, for he adds in a note, ^* Almost eveiy kind of pro- 
vision, meal excepted, is doubled at least in price within the last 
fifteen or twenty years."*^ His remarks about the inhabitants are 
worthy of being copied. " The people," he says, ** in general, 
are above the middle size. . . . Next to the occupations 
peculiar to their several lines of life, their leading object is to 
converse and dispute about religious subjects and church govern- 
ment, concerning which there is a considerable diversity of 
opinion amongst them.^ 




Education in Olden Time. S6S 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Education in Olden Time. 

" Every person has two educatienR, one which he receives from others, and 
one more important which he gives to himself." — Qibbon, 

No definite information has come down to us r^arding the 
method of education in Cumnock, before the close of the eighteenth 
century. Previous to the Reformation in 1560, education was 
practically non-existent in country parishes. Many of the clergy, 
even, were illiterate, and quite unable to read their own service 
books. Among the laity, writing was almost unknown. Nobles 
and barons despised literary culture as tending to effeminacy. 
Here and there a boy, who showed ability and inclination, might 
be taken in hand by the local priest, and instructed in such 
branches of education as Latin, geography, history, writing and 
arithmetic, with a smattering of astronomy and botany. But in 
a sparsely populated parish like ours in these olden days, the 
number of such favoured boys must have been very small. The 
choristers, who took part in the service of praise, would certainly 
receive a little training in reading and singing. But old and 
young, as a rule, throughout the district, were ignorant of the 
simplest elements of knowledge. They could neither read nor 
write. Yet we must not blame our ancestors too much for their 



S64 HuTOET OF Old Cumnock. 

ignorance of those rudiments of education, with which every child 
is acquainted in our day. They did not have the means of 
gaining a proper education, and even if they had, another 
difficulty was too great to be overcome ; they had no books to 
read. 

The Reformation worked a change. Knox^^s scheme of educa- 
tion is well-known. It was regarded by him and his supporters 
as imperatively necessary that there should be a school in every 
parish, for the instruction of young people in the principles of 
religion, in grammar, and in Latin. The support of these schools 
was made a burden upon the patrimony of the Church. The 
nobility and gentry, however, were obliged to educate their 
children at their own expense. Great care was shown, at a very 
early stage, by the Assembly, in regard to the supervision of 
schools. For in 1565, Mr. John Row was commissioned ^^to 
visit the kirks and schools in Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham, 
and to remove or suspend ministers and readers as he found them 
offensive or incapable.'" 

By 1579, considerable progress had been made in general 
education. An enactment, made by Parliament in that year, 
oixlaincd that all " gentlemen, houscholdei-s, burgesses and others 
possessing 300 merks " yearly rent, and " likewise householders, 
esteemed with 50 pounds in lands or goods, be holden to have a 
Bible and Psalm Book in the vulgar tongue in their houses, for 
the better instruction of themselves and families in the knowledge 
of God.*" That law would not have been passed, if there had 
not been the likelihood of the Bibles and Psalm Books being read. 

Yet it was not possible that the national system of education, 



Education in Olden Time. 265 

recommended by Knox, could be established at once over the 
whole country. Many difficulties were in the way. Schoolmasters 
could not be easily got. The work, however, went on steadily, 
if slowly, until at the great Glasgow Assembly of 1688, Presby- 
teries were directed to see that schools were provided in eveiy 
landward parish, and such support secured to schoolmasters as 
should render education accessible to the whole population. 

In accordance with this liberal idea of education, a school 
would be established in Cumnock as soon after the Reformation 
as possible. Who taught it, and how many scholars took advan- 
tage of it, we cannot say, but the seed of that scholastic system 
was sown then, which, under the enlightened care of the Reformed 
Church, Cumnock enjoyed with the rest of Scotland, — a system, 
which, with all its limitations, did its work admirably, until in 
187S, it was asked to give place to the order of things we now 
see. It is not too much to say that the measures, devised at the 
Reformation for the spread of education in Scotland, made our 
nation the best educated in the world. Nowhere has education 
been more highly prized than in Scotland, and in no country 
have its benefits been more apparent in eveiy class of the com- 
munity. 

We are therefore entitled to think of a teacher carrying on his 
work in Cumnock soon after 1660, to whose training some, at 
least, of the boys and girls in the parish came with more or less 
readiness. It is quite possible that for a number of years after 
the Reformation, the minister, through lack of a regular teacher, 
discharged the duties of the schoolmaster^s office. Up to the 
close of the sixteenth century, this was a common arrangemeqt 



266 HiffTOBY OF Old Cumvock. 

in country parishes, and very likely it obtained here. One land- 
owner in the neighbourhood took an interest in the Cumnock 
school and wished to promote its welfare. For in 1625, ^^Helein 
Lockhart, spous to Ch£u*les Campbell of Glasnock, maid hir 
testament as follows : — I give and leif to be wairit and bestowit 
upone the school of Cumnock, twentie pimds money.*" (Paterson^ 
II., p. 339). This good lady's gift to the cause of local educa- 
tion is the earliest notice we have of a regularly oi^nized school 
in the parish. Perhaps her legacy was a grateful acknowledge- 
ment of the benefit she herself had derived from it. 

In accordance with the regulations of the Church, the Presbytery 
of Ayr exercised a certain supervision over the schi>ol. References 
to it, however, in the Presbytery records, are far from numerous. 
One occurs under date 164S, in connection with a Presbyterial 
visitation of the parish. " Inquisition,'' we are told, ** was made 
concerning the shool and shoolmaster of Cumnok, wherupon 
compeired Mr. Andro Bryane, shoolmaster and reader thair, and 
gave in a supplication for taking order with his bygane stipende, 
(which was not peyed to him according to condition), and for 
tymes to come, q^^ was ten s[hillings] out of every mkland; 
whairupon the presbyterie appointed a commission to the next 
adjacent brethren, viz., Mr. George Young, Mr. Johne Shael, 
Mr. Johne Blyth, Mr. Johne Reid, to consider the foirsd sup- 
plication, and to take notice thairof, and that intimation of the 
foirsd commission suld be published from the pulpit to the 
parocheners the nixt Sabbath."" 

Another reference takes us to 1738. In that year the Presby- 
tery appointed " the classes of Cumnock, Maybole, and Gralston 



Education in Olden Time. 267 

to visit the grammar schools within their respective bounds, at 
their first classical meeting.^ 

Both of these extracts prove the interest of the local Presby- 
tery in the cause of education, and the attention which they paid 
to the Cumnock school. 

We have no means of judging of the qualifications of the 
various teachers, who were appointed to look after the instruction 
of the young. It is possible, however, to give the names of the 
schoolmasters from nearly the banning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. This information is provided by the session records, for, 
as a rule, the session found it convenient to make the school- 
master their clerk. 

The list is as follows : — 

Robert Trotter, schoolmaster, resigned 1724. 



James Wilson, 


9} 


appointed 


1784. 


WiLUAM Rae, 


W 


9} 


1781. 


WlIXIAM HOGGSYARD, 


» 


» 


1764. 


David Vat.lance, 


99 


>» 


1764. 


George Swinton, 


99 


♦> 


1768. 


Archibald White, 


» 


W 


1785. 


William Clogston, 


J> 


» 


1787. 


William Simson, 


» 


J> 


1788. 


James Campbeli*, 


» 


» 


1816. 


John McEinneli^ 


J> 


99 


1889. 



In 184S Mr. McEinnell connected himself with the Free 
Church, but continued to act as parochial teacher till February, 
1844. In the following year he was appointed teacher of the 



268 HiBTO&T OF Old Cumnock. 

Free Church school, — an office which he held, with the exception 
of two short intervals, until 1862, when ill health compelled him 
to resign. He emigrated to California, where he died a few 
years ago. In the old parish school he was succeeded by Mr. David 
L. Scott. The memory, both of Mr. McKinnell and Mr. Scott, 
is still warmly cherished by many old pupils. In 1863, Mr. 
Robert Brown succeeded Mr. McKinnell in the Free Church 
school. After the passing of the Education Act, he was appointed 
to the headmastership of the public school of Cumnock, jointly 
with Mr. Scott. On Mr. Scott's retirement from duty in 1882, 
Mr. Brown became sole headmaster, a position he still continues 
to hold. 

It is disappointing to be told by Dr. Miller, in his account of 
the parish in 1793, that "education is little valued.*" The truth 
of this statement is borne out by the fact, that the average 
number of scholars in attendance was only 40. As the population 
of the parish at the time was 1,632, the enthusiasm for education 
displayed can hardly be said to have been great. Dr. Miller 
gives us the scale of fees exacted in his time. Perhaps the fairly 
large amount charged stood in the way of some families sending 
their children to school. 

ITie charge for English was - - 8/- per annum. 

Do. with Writing, - - - - 10/- 

Do. do. with Arithmetic, - - 12/- 

Do. do. do. with Latin, - - 16/- 

Even if all the pupils took every subject, the total income from 
fees would only be £32, In 1837, the average number of scholars 



^9 
>5 



Education in Olden Tnre. 269 

at the parish school was 100, but there were five private schools 
as well in the neighbourhood. District adventure schools, 
especially during the winter months, were not uncommon. Men 
who were good at the three ** R's,*" would go to a distant part of 
the parish, and, in some farm-house where they lodged, have 
placed under their care the children of the neighbourhood. A 
night school was frequently opened as well by them for the young 
men and women engaged in farm work. Many persons still 
remember such schools being held from time to time in different 
quarters. They seem to have supplied fairly well a real need. 

The school was open every week day. Long after the nine- 
teenth century began, Saturday was only a half holiday. No 
mention is made of any help given to the schoolmaster by pupil 
teachers or fiiUy qualified assistants. Probably it was felt he 
could attend with ease to the education of 40 boys and girls 
without assistance. As the number attending school increased, 
help of some kind must have been given to him in his work. It 
was no uncommon thing for lads, whom we should almost call 
young men, to continue under the instruction of the teacher. 
One resident in our town tells how his father attended school, in 
Mr. CampbelPs day, till he was 18 or 19. The master even 
allowed him on Saturdays, after the time for closing came, to 
remain in school at his work. The door was locked, and the 
solitary pupil was left inside. By an*angement with the ma:$ter, 
he made his exit, when his work was done, by the window ! 

The schoolmaster was f&ted once a year by his pupils. This 
was a general practice throughout Scotland. In most places the 
festival was held on Candlemas. In Cumnock, as in other parishes 



9n0 History of Old Cumnock. 

in Ayrshire, it took place on New Year's day. The day was 
obsen^ed as a holiday. The boys and girls, dressed in their finest 
attire, vied with each other in bringing presents to the teacher^ 
and laying them before him on his desk. The gifts were both in 
money and kind, llieir value depended largely on the position 
and inclination of the parents. Half-a-crown, or even at times a 
whole crown, was laid on the desk by a smiling pupil, proud of 
the amount of his offering. Cakes, parcels of tea and sugar, with 
other similar gifts, found their place before the master, who 
received them with looks and words of satisfaction. 

When all the gifts were presented, the teacher's part of the 
entertainment began. For, as became the recipient of so many 
proofs of regard, he provided a treat for the children in the form 
of apples and oranges, cookies and sweets. In some places in the 
neighbourhood, though fortunately it does not seem to have been 
the custom in Cumnock, a supply of mild toddy was served to 
the boys and girls. Some persons who have experienced this 
expression of the goodwill of these old teachers, assuringly state 
that the toddy was extremely weak. Well is it that it was so, but 
better far that the mistaken custom has long since disappeared. 

Another part of the day's proceedings remains to be recorded. 
This was the coronation of a king and queen ; for the title of 
king was given to the boy, and that of queen to the girl, who 
brought the costliest gift to the master. It would be difficult to 
say what method he took, in deciding the respective values of all 
the articles brought to him. In what way could he, or any one 
else whom he called in to act as arbiter, tell tlie difference 
between two parcels of tea of the same weight, or hold the 



Education in Olden Time. 271 



balance impartially between two home-made cakes of the same 
size ? Still he was expected to pronounce an opinion, and so 
nominate the king and queen for the day. The election of these 
royal personages may have caused a little heartburning some- 
times, but usually it was accepted amidst the cheers of the less 
fortunate onlookers. 

On this day of rejoicing in many parts of Scotland, the de- 
grading practice of cock-fighting was indulged in. The school was 
cleared of its benches, €uid the room turned into a cock-pit, with 
the children and others who cared to come, as spectators. The 
conquei*ed birds fell to the teacher as his perquisite. But to the 
credit of our parish be it said, that such a revolting exhibition 
seems to have been entirely unknown. Probably, the ministers 
and the schoolmasters alike set their faces against it. It is 
interesting to know that this cruel form of amusement prevailed 
so near us as Mauchline, and that it was put down there, in 
1782, by" Daddy ^Auld. 

The annual examination of the school in the old parish days 
by the minister and one or two neighbouring clergymen, was a 
great event. It usually lasted some hours. Small prizes were 
given to those who acquitted themselves well A favourite 
reward from Mr. Bannatyne was a penknife. In Bible knowledge 
the pupils were carefully examined. This was a feature in the 
school life of the past, which it is only to be regretted has not 
the prominence it ought to liave in our present system. Chuixjh 
and school were in closest union until the separation came, a 
quarter of a century ago. Not the least valuable result of that 



itti History of Old CuMNocit. 

union was the constant supervision and interest, which the minis- 
ter was able to take in the education of the young. 

The schoolmaster held many offices. Not only was he usually 
expected to act as session-clerk, but he was also precentor, and 
at the same time clerk to the heritors. Yet, as if these multi- 
farious duties were not enough, he was charged with another as 
well. For a time, at least, he acted as postmaster. There were 
certainly not many letters to be distributed in Mr. Simson's time, 
or even in Mr. CampbelPs, but the responsibility of seeing them 
handed in at their proper destination belonged to these teachers, 
and doubtless also to their predecessors. The lettei-s were de- 
livered in Cumnock from door to door, probably by a messenger 
whom the schoolmaster employed. Letters for people in the 
country districts were forwarded in another way. They were 
given to the children at the school to deliver as they went home. 
If a boy belonging to the family to whom the letter was 
addressed was a pupil at school, then it was entrusted to him. 
If no representative of the family was there, it was given to a 
child whose home was near, and who could be trusted to deliver 
it in due course. This method of distributing the contents of 
the mail-bag was quite in keeping with the quiet and leisurely 
days of old. It stands in vivid contrast to the stir and bustle of 
the post office to-day. 

In order to show the progress made now in attendajice at 
school, the following figures for 1898 may'be given for the two 
schools under the management of the Board. At Cumnock 
School the number on the roll was 629, with an average attend- 
ance of 535. At Garrallan School the number was 163 on the 



Education in Olden Time. tld 

roll, with an average attendance of 128. A denominational 
school also exists in connection with the Roman Catholic portion 
of the community. At Cumnock .f 1,051 were paid in salaries to 
the teachers, and at Garrallan <f284. The present school build- 
ings in the town were erected after the passing of the Education 
Act in 1872. The Garrallan school was opened in 1876. 



3^4 History of Old Cuicnocil 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Notable Men. 



*' The worth of a state, in the long ran, is the worth of the individuals com- 
Iiosing it." — J, 8. MiU, 

A MU^iBEK of notable men have been connected with Cumnock by 
birth or residence. Mention has akeady been made of some of 
them in the foregoing pages. This chapter will be devoted to 
an account of others, whose life and work in different directions 
make them worthy of being remembered. As far as possible they 
will be put down in historical order. 

(1). Alexandee Cunningham. 

Alexander Cunningham, only son of the Rev. John Cunning- 
ham or Cunynghame, minister of the parish from 1647 to 1668, 
is the most distinguished literary man whom Cumnock has pro- 
duced. His great scholarship is an indirect proof of the ability 
of his father. Of Alexander'^s early days nothing is known. He 
seems to have completed his academical course at Leyden, for 
Professor Jacobus Grouovius, in a letter from Leyden dated 9th 
May, 1687, says: "Where Cunningham is living after he left 
this town, I have been unable to discover, except that certain 



Notable Men. QUlo 



populares say he has gone on a Grerman tour, and not fixed his 
residence anywhere." 

His university career was so distinguished that he was invited 
to act in Edinburgh, first as Regent or Tutor of Humanity, and 
then as Regent of Philosophy. The appointment in Philosophy 
was given to him in 1689. His special study, however, was law. 
Through the influence of the Duke of Queensberry, who had 
entrusted him with the education of his son. Lord (zeorge 
Douglas, Cunningham was appointed by Parliament, in 1698, 
Professor of Civil Law in Edinburgh. Of this chair he was tlie 
first occupant. Seemingly it was created for him, though he 
never actually lectured to students. As far as can be gathered, 
the formal appointment was made to allow him to draw a grant 
of i?150, to enable him to publish an edition of the Pandects of 
Justinian. This work, for which he was thoroughly qualified, 
was never completed, apparently because the salary was not 
always forthcoming. His income from the chair was to be de- 
rived from a tax on shipping, but prior claims upon that tax 
sometimes left little or nothing for the Professor of Civil Law. 

On the death of his mother in 1677, Cunningham came into 
the possession of the family estate of Bloak or Blook, near 
Stewarton, in Ayrshire. He enjoyed at the same time, a pension 
from the Duke of Queensberry. With this provision he with- 
drew from his anomalous position in Edinburgh, somewhere 
about the year 1709, and taking up his residence in the Hague, 
gave himself up to literary work. He soon made a name for 
himself as a scholar, by entering the lists against the great 
Bentley, who found in him a foeman worthy of his steel. Roscoc 



S76 History of Old Cumnock. 

speaks of him as "the ablest antagonist that ever attacked 
Bentley.*" In 1721 Cunningham brought out his A niviadversiones 
on Bentley's Horace, and boasted that he had corrected the text 
in four hundred places. His edition of the poems of Horace — a 
separate work from the Animadversiones — is very beautifully 
printed. He also prepared an edition of Virgil, and the Fables 
of Phaedrus, which were published after his death. 

The means, which Cunningham had at his disposal, made it 
easy for him to indulge his literary inclinations. He set himself 
to the congenial task of gathering a splendid classical library, 
and spared no pains to secure the best editions of standard works. 
Certain letters written by him to J. P. D'Orville, whom he em- 
ployed to purchase rare literary gems, show how great a book- 
hunter he was. Here is one dated Hague, July 17, 1726. It is 
from the collection of Cunningham^s letters preserved in the 
Bodleian library. 

**I need not advise you to buy all the classicks, and good 
modem Lat. and Ital. poets, and histories Lat. Ital., as likewise 
all the editions of the classicks of the Alduses, if cheap and fair, 
and some other poets printed by old Aldus ; all the old editions 
of classicks before the 1480, if cheap, for you know, I suppose, 
that the prices of the old edd. and of all the Alduses, Juntas, 
Torrcntinos, are much lower than they were three years ago.*' 

Like a true Scotsman, Cunningham, while eager for the coveted 
volumes, had no wish to pay more than their market value. 

Another letter to his friend gives us a further glimpse of the 
methods he pursued in funiishing his shelves. D"*Orville was in 
Italy at the time. A list of books wanted by Cunningham 



k 



Notable Mem. 2T7 



reached him with this note. " Such as I have marked with a 
cross, you can safely exceed the prices marked. Those that you 
purchase at Genua, Turin, Milan, it is best to send from Genua, 
and those that you purchase in Piacenza, Modena, Bologna, 
Lucca, Piza, Ligomo, Firenze, to send them from Ligomo. Nor 
do you forget to find out the shops of old books in every town 
you pass through, and to find one of the booksellers who uses to 
get books out of private libraries, or out of the libraries of the 
cloysters.*" 

The result was that Cunningham accumulated a most valuable 
library, which was sold after his death. The catalogue of the 
sale, which mentions that most of the books are in ^^ gilt vellum 
or calf,'' reveals by its title the splendour of the collection. It 
runs in this way — *^ Bibliotheca Cuningamia, continens selectis- 
simos rarissimosque omni in lingua libros. Hos omnes multo 
judicio, vigilantia, ac labore coUegit celeberrimus ac eruditissimus 
Vir D. Alexander Cuningamius, Jurisconsultus et Polyhistor 
eximius. Lugd. Bat 1730.'' 

From his Dutch home, Cunningham carried on correspondence 
with some of the best-known literary men of the day. Addison, 
Ije Clerc, Cuper, Leibnitz, and Locke, were on terms of intimacy 
with him. He lived, however, a private life in Holland. There 
is no evidence to show that, during his stay there, he taught 
civil or canon law. Besides his reputation as a critic and an 
author, he gained for himself the distinction of being the finest 
chessplayer in Europe. About the year 1700, Professor Wodrow 
played at chess ^^ with Mr. Alexander Cunningham of Bloak, his 
old acquaintance. Mr. Cunningham, after playing a game with 



S78 HisroRT of Old Cumnock. 

him, said he thought he was able to give him a rook and a 
bishop of advantage, and his very utmost was the queen, but he 
doubted that would be too much, which was high commendation 
from him, who is reckoned the best chessplayer in Europe" 
(Wodrow's Life of Prof. James Woirovs). 

Certain volumes in the Eilinbuigh University Library are 
specially associated with Cunningham. A copy of the works of 
Servetus bears this inscription — " Presented to the library he Mr. 
Alexajider Cuninghame of Bloak, preceptor to the Lord Greorge 
Douglass.'' Henderson's catalogue shows that it was given *' to 
preserve the memory of his dear pupil." Occasionally the 
UnivetBity records contain a notice like this, regarding a particu- 
lar book — ^"Returned for that which was lost by Mr. Alexander 
Conaingham of Bloak, Professor of Law." 

Theology, likewise, interested Cunningham, who had some idea 
of publishing a scheme of the Christian Religion. Friends, who 
knew the bent of his mind, eagerly pressed him to put his 
thoughts on paper. Burnett, for instance, the ingenious author 
of J%« Theory of the Earthy writing in 1699 to Ixwke, then 
resident in Holland, says, " I thought of sending this packet with 
Mr. Cunningham, who told nie at my chambers, some days ago, 
he was about to go out to you ; but now after waiting longer 
than his set time, I was resolved to wait no longer. I wish you 
would indulge him before he leaves you, to piece together his 
proofe of the Christian Religion, that the world may enjoy that 
light he liath so long pi-omised " (King's Life of Ij3i-ke, p. 403). 
This idea, however, was never carried out. Leibnitz, also, who 
calls him "doctrina et ingenio valentem," alludes to a plan 




Notable Men. S79 



Cunningham had formed of illustrating the Anglo-Saxon 
language, but no trace of such a work has been found. 

Cunningham died at the Hague in 1730. A co-incidence in 
name has sometimes caused him to be confounded with Alex- 
ander Cunningham, the historian, who died in 1737. {Cf. 
Grant^s Edin. Universityy I., p. 861 ; Irving^s Memoirs of Buck* 
anauj Appen. XI. ; Irving"*s Scottish Writers^ Vol. II. ; Leibnitz, 
Tom. VI., pp. 271-278). 

(2). WiLUAM Logan. 

William Logan of that Hk, by profession a writer in Edin- 
burgh, is to be remembered for the wise and liberal views he 
expressed in print on the system of local government, which 
obtained in Scotland until the middle of the 18th century. Two 
small pamphlets were published by him on the subject, one in 
the foim of an anonymous ^^ letter to an English member of 
Parliament &om a gentleman in Scotland, concerning the slavish 
dependencies which a great part of that nation is still kept 
under by Superiorities, Wards, Reliefs, and other remains of the 
feudal law ; ^ and the other, published about the same time, 
1721, in booklet form, bearing the author^s name on the first 
page, and similar in title and substance to the letter which had 
already come from Logan^s pen. They constitute a calm and 
well-reasoned attack on the heritable jurisdictions existing in 
Scotland at the time, and an appeal to remove them out of the 
way, " for the safety of our happy constitution, and the releasing 
of His Majesty^s subjects from their slavish dependencies and 



880 History of Old Cumnock. 



heavy oppressions.^* The writer advocates that " all the other 
cumulative jurisdictions of Stewarties, Regalities, Commissorials, 
and Baillariesy which are not only useless, but hurtful,^' should 
utterly cease, and the power be placed in the hands of the crown. 
Though nothing else is recorded of this laird of Logan, it is 
well to recall the fact that Cumnock furnished, through him, a 
bold and skilful reformer, whose views were put into effect by the 
abolition of heritable jurisdictions in 1747. William Logan^s 
writings and efforts doubtless helped to bring about the change. 
He did not live, however, to see it. He died in 1727. 

(8). Rev. Allan Logan. 

The house of Logan furnished at the same period another 
name, which figures in the history of Scotland. For Allan 
Logan, brother of William, occupied a fairly prominent place in 
the Church, doing good service both in the pulpit and in the 
ecclesiastical courts. Having completed his theological training, 
he was ordained in 1695 to the ministry in Torrybum, whence 
he was translated to Culross in 1717. On the death of his 
brother in 1727, he succeeded to the Logan estate. Six yeai"s 
afterwards he died, in the thirty-ninth year of his ministry. His 
wife was a daughter of Lord Colville of Ochiltree. 

It is said of hira that " he was a considerable philosopher, a 
smart disputant, well skilled in controversy, an able and zealous 
minister of the Gospel, though keen in supporting the view of 
the majority in the Church against the Marrow of Modem 
Divinity y and some of his co-presbyters'" (Scott's Fasti). He 



Notable Men. 281 



rendered special help to the Church by serving on the committee 
of Assembly, appointed to deal with the case of Professor Simson 
of Glasgow. His interest in the matter is shown in a small 
treatise he published anonymously, entitled, ^^A CourdryniarCs 
brief remarks on the Reveretid and Learned Mr. John Sympson^ 
Professor of Divinity ^ his letter to the Reverend Presbytery of 
GUtsgow,"" There came from his pen, also anonymously, 
** Queries upon the Overtures concerning Kirk Sessions and Pres- 
byterieSj by a gentleman in the country ^ This appeared in 1720. 
Mr. Logan, at the same time, appears to have been addicted 
to the work of prophesying. In 1801 a chap-book was printed 
in the Saltmarket of Glasgow, giving an account of *^ the surpris- 
ing Fore-knowledge and Predictions of the Rev. Allan Logan."^ 
These predictions referred to calamities which Mr. Logan hinted 
would take place between the years 1758 and 1793. 



(4). Rev. George Logan. 

The most famous representative of the Logan family, however, 
appeared in the person of George Logan, who attained high 
honour in the Church, and distinguished himself in the contro- 
versial world of the day. His exact relationship to the Logans of 
that nk is not quite clear, but there is no doubt that his father, 
George, was a close connection of the house, while his mother 
was the only daughter of the Rev. John Cunningham, minister 
of Cumnock from 1647 to 1668. Accordingly, he was the 
nephew of Professor Alexander Cunningham. 

Yoimg (xeoi^, who was bom in 1678, passed through the 



S82 History of Old Cumnock. 

University of Glasgow, taking his Master of Arts degree at the 
age of eighteen. Having decided to enter the Church, he was 
licensed about the year 1702 by the Presbytery of Glasgow, and 
on the 7th April, 1707, ordained to the parish of Lauder. 
Twelve years later he removed to Sprouston, in the Presbytery 
of Kelso. He remained at Sprouston just three years, for on the 
22nd January, 1722, he was inducted to the charge of Dunbar. 
His popular gifts secured for him additional preferment in 1732, 
when he was admitted one of the ministers of Edinburgh in the 
fifty-fourth year of his age. 

About the time he went to the capital, he published three 
tracts on ** the right and power of electing ministers,*" in which 
he strongly supported the popular side of the question. In 
1736, he showed the strength of his liberal convictions on the 
matter of the relation between Church and State, by refusing to 
read the Act of Parliament appointed to be read from every 
pulpit once a month for a year, with a view of bringing to 
punishment those connected with the Porteous Riot. His 
opinions on the matter he published in 1737. Soon after, his 
abilities gained for him the highest honour the Chui-ch could 
bestow, for in 1740 he was raised to the Moderator's chair in the 
General Assembly. In his official capacity he took part in an 
historic incident. It fell to him solemnly to depose the eight 
brethren, who founded the Secession Church. The sermon he 
preached at the opening of the Assembly in the following year, 
he published. 

During the occupation of Edinburgh by the Highland clans 
under Prince Charlie in 1745, Logan, along with most of the 



Notable Mex. 283 



city ministers, left the capital for the sake of safety. His house, 
situated somewhere near the Tron, was occupied by the Preten- 
der^s troops. On returning to it after his unwelcome guests had 
left, he showed his humour by advertising in the newspapers for 
the recovery of certain articles taken away. He managed in the 
notice to make some biting, satirical remarks on the Tory party. 

Logan set forth his Radical views in 1746 in A Treatise on 
Government^ showing that the right of the Scottish kings to the 
throne was not strictly hereditary. Next year he published a 
second pamphlet on the same subject. Ruddiman, the gram- 
marian and controversialist, took up the pen against him. In 
reply Logan issued three other tracts. Into the merits of the 
controversy we cannot enter. It must suffice to say that Logan, 
to the weakness of his position, sought to establish his opinions, 
not upon intrinsic truth, but upon historical precedent. He 
tried to show that in one case at least, the crown of Scotland 
had rested on the brow of a monarch, who was not of true royal 
blood. The well-known question of the legitimacy of Robert III. 
served his purpose. Ruddiman, in defence of the royal house, 
brought against Logan the charge, frequently made on such 
occasions, of ^^ despising dominion>«, speaking evil of dignities, 
and throwing out railing accusations against kings, though the 
archangel Michael durst not bring one against the devil himself, 
whom our author, I hope,^ he says, " will allow to be worse than 
the worst of kings.^ 

The controversy was carried on with great spirit on both sides, 
and certainly with considerable ability by Logan, till 1749, 
when both combatants had passed the three-score years and ten. 



284 History of Old Cumnock. 

The matter is of little moment now, but the position Logan 
took up is interesting, from the very emphatic way in which he 
set himself to demolish the plea of the divine right of kings. In 
days when Radicals were few and Toryism was rampant, he fear- 
lessly fought the battle of freedom and boldly supported the 
rights of the people. 

Greorge Logan died in Edinburgh on the 13th October, 1765, 
in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He was twice married. 
By his first wife, a sister of Sir Alexander Hume of Eccles, he 
had a son, Greorge, who became minister of Ormiston, and a 
daughter. His second wife, Lilias Weir, survived him. 

(6). Hugh Logan. 

Hugh Logan, well known as " the witty laird,^ deserves more 
than passing mention. He was born in the year 1739. As he 
was the youngest of three sons, there was every prospect that he 
would need to earn his own livelihood. But when his father 
asked him what profession he would like to follow, he naively 
replied, " Til just be a laird, like yei-ser.*" " Maybe so, Hughie,*" 
answered his father, " I was the youngest o** three myse?.^ And 
so it actually turned out. His two brothers died, and Hugh 
became laird of Logan at the age of twenty-one. For some time 
before, he had been under the care of a Mr. Walker, an accom- 
plished Aberdeen scholar, who acted as his tutor. The laird be- 
came so attached to him, that he would not allow him to leave. 
Accordingly, Mr. Walker remained with him till his death, some 
eighteen months before that of his old pupil and friend. 



Notable Men. 285 



Hugh Logan is chiefly remembered for his racy humour, which 
kept the festive table in merriment. Near the house of Logan 
there is a lofty stone obelisk, which goes by the name of Logan's 
Pillar, where he is said to have been in the habit of sitting and 
cracking jokes with his companions. Fifty years ago many of 
his witty remarks were current in' the district. Unfortunately, 
however, as Mr. Bannatyne records, they were frequently dis- 
figured by " a mixture of coarseness and profanity, which did not 
help to promote the interests of religion or morality '* {New Stat. 
Ace). Some specimens of his humour, not liable to such an 
objection, may be noted. 

On one occasion a gentleman, not conspicuous for the clean- 
liness of his person, or the neatness of his attire, consulted him 
about a suitable disguise he wished to assume, in order to remain 
incognito. " Why,*** said the laird, "just wash your face and put 
on a clean shirt, and nobody will know you."^ 

The story of the Buchanites, who owed their name to Mrs. 
Buchan, the strange religious enthusiast of Irvine, is too familiar 
in Ayrshire history to be repeated here. With the converts who 
came under the power of her extravagant delusions, Mrs. Buchan 
left Irvine in 1784, with the intention of finding a peaceful abode 
in Dumfriesshire. On her way thither, she passed through Cum- 
nock. Logan, expressing much alarm at seeing a motley crowd 
approach his house, sent a servant to enquire the nature of their 
business. The servant returned with the information, that "they 
had come from Irvine, were going to heaven, and had nothmg to 
say to anyone.*" This reply removed the laird^s fears, and he 




286 HisTOBY OF Old Cumnocic. 

further declared that he was delighted to find that ^^ Logan stood 
on the road to that happy region.'^ 

Dean Ramsay tells us that Hugh once sold a horse to an 
Englishman, saying, " You buy him as you see him ; but he^s an 
honest beast. '^ The purchaser took him home. In a few days 
the horse stumbled and fell, to the damage of his own knees and 
his rider'^s head. The angry Englishman remonstrated with the 
laird, who calmly replied, "Well, sir, I told you he was an honest 
beast ; many a time he has threatened to come down with me, 
and I kenned he would keep his word some day.*" 

Another characteristic story reveals his ready wit. At a 
meeting in Ajt, held at the time of Napoleon'^s proposed invasion 
of Britain, Logan was taunted with the lack of loyalty shown by 
the people of Cumnock, who had not raised a band of volunteers 
to help in repelling the enemy. " What set of people are you 
up in Cumnock,'' said an Ayr gentleman, " you have not a single 
volunteer.*" " Never you heed,'' was the quiet reply ; " when the 
French land at Ayr, there will soon be plenty of volunteers up at 
Cumnock." 

On one occasion the proprietor of Coilsfield had a young 
plantation of fir trees wantonly damaged. A meeting of Justices 
was convened, with Sir Adam Fergusson, M.P., in the chair. 
The inquiry proved that the damage had been done by children 
whom it was useless to summon. To please Coilsfield, however. 
Sir Adam said he would consider the propriety of bringing a bill 
into Parliament, to make parents and guardians liable for the 
misdeeds of their children, and in a case like this, making the 
crime punishable with death. Logan raised a laugh. The 




Notable Mek. ^7 



chairman asked the cause of his mirth. ^* Sir Adam," he said, 
"when your bill is made law, we will have few auld lairds."" 
** How ? " said the M.P. " Because the auld sons will only have 
to break young plants to become lairds themsel^s." 

ITiough Logan was at college for a time, and boarded with 
Professor Hunter, he made little progress in education. His 
spelling was simply atrocious, as his extant letters prove. He 
wrote wholly by the ear, being guided by the sound of the word. 
Sir Isaac Pitman would have found in him a ready disciple, but 
they would have been at opposite poles with regard to the pro- 
nunciation of syllables. After the true Scottish fashion, Hugh 
pronounced " reason *" as if it were •* raisin.*^ Once in Edinburgh 
he happpcned to meet Foote, the mimic and wit. Those who 
arranged the meeting — one of them being Maule, afterwards 
Lord Panmure — told Foote beforehand of the eccentric character 
of his fellow-guest. The two wits were seated next each other. 
Foote made some remark which forced the query from Logan, 
" What raisin do you give for that ? " Foote put his hand into 
his waistcoat pocket, and, bringing out a raisin, replied, " There, 
sir, is what you seek."*' The laird at once rose and took a seat 
some distance oft', saying, " Til sit no langer beside a fellow that 
carries his wit in his waistcoat pouch." 

Logan died, in 1802, at Wellwood, where he was living at the 
time, and was buiied in the family vault at the north-east comer 
of the old churchyard, now the Square, although for more than 
thirty years ordinary burials had ceased to take place there. 
Perhaps the laird, as an heritor in the parish, retained the right 
to his own portion in the acre of Grod. No stone of any kind 



28d History of Old Cumnock. 

marks the spot His old tutor, Mr. Walker, is buried in the 
same grave. 

A collection of anecdotes, entitled The Laird of Logariy was 
published a number of years ago, but the compilers do not pre- 
tend that all the stories emanated from him. 

Before Hugh died, his estate became embarrassed through his 
unfortunate connection with the banking firm of Douglas, Heron 
& Co. To meet the calls made upon him as a shareholder, he 
was compelled to sell a large portion of his property. The estate 
has now entirely passed out of the hands of the Logans of that 
nk. The present mansion-house, which the laird had begun to 
build a short time before his death, was completed by his nephew 
and successor, Hugh Campbell. 

A commonplace book, kept partly by Logan and partly by 
Mr. Walker, is in the possession of Mr. Ranken, solicitor, Ayr, 
who also has a few of his letters. The Laird of Logan^s chair 
was deemed of sufficient interest to find a place in the Glasgow 
Exhibition of 1888. 



(6). John French. 

John French's claim to remembrance rests on his musical 
abilities. He was a violin player of considerable merit, and com- 
posed Strathspeys and Reels, which have not altogether passed 
out of sight. At social gatherings his presence was always wel- 
come. At kirns he was a great favourite. 

In early life he followed the trade of shoemaking, but, as his 
reputation increased, he devoted his time wholly to music. 




Notable Men. t89 



Various stories are told of this self-taught genius. On a certain 
occasion the Earl of Dumfries laid a wager with a guest, that a 
Cumnock man could play a hundred different tunes on the violin 
without a pause and without the score. French was sent for and 
at once began the task, which he completed successfully. Doubt- 
less, the Earl handed him the wager. 

At another time, in Ayr, he met Neil Gk>w, who recognised in 
him a formidable rival. An assembly of some kind had gathered 
together, at which both Grow and French had a part to play. 
The Perthshire man, however, with a mixture of frolic and envy, 
poured some boiling water into the belly of French's instrument, 
rendering it useless for the time at least. Sir Alexander BosweU, 
who happened to be present, was jealous of the reputation of his 
humble neighbour. He quickly mounted his horse, rode at full 
speed to Auchinleck House, and in an incredibly short time 
returned, carrying a Strad, which he handed to French for his 
use diuring the rest of the performance. Tradition asserts that 
Gk>w did not secure all the honours that night 

After French's death, which occurred in 1808, in the fifty-first 
year of his age, a number of his compositions were published for 
the behoof of his widow and children. They bdur the title : — 
A Collection of New Strathspeys^ Reels j etc., Jor the Pianoforte^ 
Violin and Violoncello, dedicated to Mrs. BosweU qf Auchinleck. 
There are sixty-four pieces in all. Many of them have local 
names, either of places or persons. Thus one of the Strathspeys 
is called Lugar Banks, and another Cumnock Fair. There are 
also to be found Mr. James BosweWs Jig, Mrs. Hamilton qf 
SundrunCs Reel, The Monkton Lasses, and The Weaver. 

T 



S90 History of Old Cumnock. 

French harboured no ill-will towards his fellow-player at Ayr, 
for he gave to another tune the significant title, John Frenches 
Compliments to Mr. Naih. Gow. In aU probability he met with 
the younger Gow as well as with Neil. Testimony to the sterling 
character of his productions is borne by the fact, that Mr. Grod- 
frey, the celebrated bandmaster, has incorporated into his Lord 
of Lorn Lancers one or two of French's airs. 

Like many of his profession, it is to be added with sorrow, this 
able musician was too convivial in his habits, and frequently in- 
dulged heavily in strong drink. French is buried in the church- 
yard on the Barrhill Road, not far from the entrance gate. 

(7). James Tavloe. 

There was long resident in our town one, whose name holds a 
conspicuous place in the history of invention. James Taylor was 
bom at Leadhills in 1768. After fitting himself to enter the 
medical profession, he was engaged by the well-known Patrick 
Miller of Dalswinton in 1785, to act as tutor to his sons. His 
selection for this position was greatly helped by his love of 
mechanics, in which his patron was deeply interested. 

In the year in which Taylor entered the service of the laird of 
Dalswinton, Mr. Miller was engaged in certain experiments with 
a view to apply paddle wheels to vessels, and thereby extricate 
them from perilous positions, when wind and tide were adverse. 
The power he employed for this purpose, on a vessel sixty feet 
long in the Firth of Forth, was simply manual labour. With 
true inventive genius, Taylor saw that this was utterly useless, as 




Notable Men. 2dl 



the men were speedily exhausted, and in a happy moment sug- 
gested the use of steam power. (James Nasmyth, Autobiography^ 
p. 29.) Mr. Miller was very sceptical, being under the belief 
that in a stormy sea, the fires of the engine would be put out by 
the waves. Taylor pressed his point and prevailed to such an 
extent that, with the help of a young man named Symington, 
who also belonged to Leadhills, a vessel, fitted with a steam 
engine upon the deck, moved at the rate of five miles an hour on 
Dalswinton Loch. This took place on the 14th October, 1788, 
and is memorable as the first occasion on which steam was 
applied to propel vessels on water. 

A number of Mr. Miller^s friends were on board. Robei*t 
Bums was there. So were Henry Brougham, the future Lord 
Chancellor, and Alexander Nasmy th, the painter. With a larger 
engine in 1789, Taylor attained the speed of seven miles an houi* 
on the Forth and Clyde Canal. All this, however, meant expense 
to Mr. Miller, whose money alone permitted the operations to be 
carried on. He found the cost too great and decided to experi- 
ment no further. Taylor was unable to go on by himself, and 
the war, then in progress against Napoleon, turned public atten- 
tion away from the matter. 

Some time after, Mr. Fulton from the United States, accom- 
panied by Mr. Henry Bell of Glasgow, inspected the vessel which 
had been run on the Forth and Clyde Canal, with the result that 
in 1807 Fulton launched a steam vessel on the Hudson, and Bell 
another on the Clyde in 1812. These were the first vessels of the 
kind ever used by the public in the new and old hemispheres. 
Great credit is due to these two men for canying out the idea of 



ildSt History of Old Cumnock. 

employing steam power on board ships at sea as they did, but 
beyond all doubt they simply adopted the invention of Taylor, 
who by circumstances was prevented from giving to the world 
the practical application of his discovery, after its value had been 
proved. 

By and by, Taylor came to Cumnock where he acted as inspec- 
tor of mines on the Dumfries House estate. He also started the 
Cumnock pottery. His house was on the Ayr Road. 

When in the course of years the vast possibilities of steam 
navigation began to be realised, Taylor was urged to make a 
statement of the position he occupied in relation to the dis- 
covery. This he did in 1824, addressing it to Sir Henry Pamell, 
Chairman of a Parliamentary Committee on Steamboats. No 
response came before he died in 1825, at the age of sixty-seven. 
Grovemment, however, recognised the justice of his claim, and 
awarded a pension of X^50 a year to his widow, who enjoyed it as 
long as she lived. In further recognition of his services, each of 
his four daughters received in 1887 a gift of <f 50 through Lord 
Melbourne. 

The engine which he was instrumental in making, and which 
was used on Dalswinton Loch, is now in the hands of the Commis- 
sion on Patents, who have placed it in South Kensington Museum. 
It is labelled, l^he Parent Engine of Steam Navigatioii. 

Cumnock may well cherish the name of James Taylor, and be 
proud that there lived in it for many yeara one, who may justly 
be enrolled among the greatest benefactors of the human race. 

He lies buried in the churchyard. A suitable inscription on 
his tombstone records the valuable discovery he made. 




Notable Men. 298 



(8). George McCartney. 

If Cumnock was honoured with the residence of James Taylor 
of steam navigation fame, it also numbers on its list of notable 
men the name of an inventor, whose genius in mechanical work is 
borne out by the improvements he effected on the old wooden 
thrashing-mill, invented by Andrew Meikle in 1787. George 
McCartney, who was bom in Ochiltree in the closing years of the 
eighteenth century, early lost his father. His mother, who could 
claim relationship with Peden, struggled nobly to give her only 
child as good an education as the parish could supply. Even 
while a schoolboy, " Wee Geordie ^ displayed great aptitude for 
drawing and the construction of models. One of his earliest 
achievements was a " wag at the wa*,*' which he fashioned out of 
a bit of wood, and which kept time with amazing re^larity for 
years. 

Having served his apprenticeship as an engineer to Greorge 
Galbraith, joiner and millwright in Cumnock, McCartney started 
business on his own account at Clockclownie, about two miles 
south of the town. The first mill he sent out went to the farm 
of Auchencorse, and was so satisfactory that orders began to 
pour in upon him. Soon afterwaixls he removed to Cumnock, to 
the premises still occupied by his successors, who continue the 
business under the founder^s name. 

The first improvement he made on the old mill was suggested 
to him in a very simple way. He was walking one day between 
Minnishant and Maybole, when his interest was aroused by the 
position of the large wheel, which drove the hobby horses of a 



394 History of Old Cubcnock. 

travelling show. The teeth of this wheel were turned towards 
the ground. In the thrashing mill, up to that time, the horse 
wheel had always been set with its teeth upwards, with the 
result that they frequently became choked and were often 
fractured. At once he determined to adopt this method in the 
construction of his mills, and so contributed greatly to their 
strength and safety. 

Another valuable improvement was effected by him a little 
later. Under the old style of mill, a good deal of trouble was 
experienced by the drawpole continuing to revolve, after the 
horses had been loosed. As it kept on its course, both men and 
horses were sometimes caught by it and injured. Mr. McCartney 
pondered the matter long, and at length discovered a remedy. 
He introduced a ratch-wheel into the machinery, i.^., a wheel 
which revolves in the reverse order and is quite distinct from the 
rest of the machinery. The result was just what he desired. 
The drawpole stopped as soon as the horses stopped, while the 
machinery inside the mill gradually played itself out. The 
utility of this contrivance was at once recognised, and was 
adopted by millwrights all over the country. Had he patented 
it, he would have made a fortune, but he was content to make a 
present of his discovery to his fellow engineers. 

So little was McCartney set on money-making that, at his 
death at the age of 78, he was comparatively a poor man, even 
though his firm for a lengthened period was turning out mills at 
the rate of something like 100 per annum, and of the value of 
more than dP80 each. These mills found their way to almost 
every county in Scotland, to England, to Ireland, to the Isle of 



Notable Msn. S95 



Man and even to the British Colonies. At the first great 
exhibition in Melbourne, a Cumnock mill was awarded the gold 
medal, which with unusual generosity was sent home to Mr. 
McCartney by the farmer who gained it. 

Many other medals reached him, but he did not lay much store 
by them. He had another aim in life than to gain such rewards. 
It was his one ambition to turn out genuine work of the highest 
kind. No "scamped'' work ever left his premises. The mere 
fact that a mill had come from the shop of George McCartney, 
was sufficient to guarantee the excellence of its material and the 
quality of its workmanship. 

Mr. McCartney died in 1868, and is buried in Ochiltree church- 
yard. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth, an ap- 
preciative article on his character and work appeared in the 
Scotsman newspaper of the 17th August, 1891. 

(9). George Drummond. 

George Drummond is a son of Cumnock whose reooid is full of 
honour. Bom in the Townhead in 1808, he received part of his 
education from the late Rev. Dr. Hugh Crichton, and at the age 
of fourteen was apprenticed to Adam Crichton as a boxmaker. 
Soon after, he resolved to devote himself to the work of Christ in 
the Foreign Mission field. In the face of considerable difficulties, 
he attended evening classes held by the schoolmaster, William 
Simson, and pored over his books in his father's house, late and 
early, till he was able to enter the Theological Academy of the 
Secession Church in Glasgow. He eventually finished his course 




996 History of Old CuifKocK. 

of study at Ongar in 1838, where he enjoyed the stimulating 
influence of Isaac Taylor, and formed a friendship with David 
Livingstone, which was maintained by correspondence for many 
years. 

Having been accepted by the London Missionary Society, he 
was ordained at Kilmarnock in June, 1839, and appointed to 
labour in Tahiti, one of the Society Islands. He sailed from 
England along with his wife, in August of the same year, and 
thirteen months afterwards reached his destination. On arriving 
at Tahiti, however, he found it had been arranged by the local 
mission€u*ies that he should settle on the Samoan group of islands. 
Continuing his voyage, he landed at Apia on the 27th January, 
1841, and for the next sixteen years worked among the heathen 
of those islands. In 1857, he visited the New Hebrides and the 
Loyalty Islands, as a deputy of the London Mission. Returning 
home in 1858, he remained in this country for eighteen months, 
visiting many towns for the purpose of giving information about 
his work. 

In June, 1860, he reached Samoa again, laboured there for 
twelve years longer, and finally came back to his native land with 
health so much broken, that he could not face any more the work 
in the Pacific, which he had carried on for a genemtion. His 
tall figure and venerable appearance were well-known in Cum- 
nock, which he frequently visited in his later yeai's, though he 
made his home in London. 

During the earlier period of his work in Samoa, he assisted in 
the revision of the Scriptures in the native language. Among 
the islanders he was known by the name of Talamoni^ — The 



/ 




Notable Men. 297 



True Story, — a testimony at once to his own worth, and to the 
confidence the Samoans had in him as their teacher and friend. 
It is interesting to recall the fact, that the work of a man like 
Drummond, in its civilizing effects, made Apia a spot where 
Robert Louis Stevenson could find a peaceful and happy abode. 

Geoige Drummoud died in London in December, 189S. He 
was twice married. His first wife, Miss Drummond, died in 
Samoa. His second wife, Miss Ogilvie, survived him. 

(10). James Arthur Crichton. 

A well-known family in the parish during the nineteenth 
century found its most distinguished public representative in 
the person of James Arthur Crichton, who was bom on the 
25th April, 1825. His grandfather held for many years the 
position of factor on the Dumfries House estate. His father was 
first a partner, and eventually the head of the firm of Messrs. 
Tait & Crichton, Writers to the Signet in Edinburgh. The 
family residence at Hillside, Cumnock, acquired more than fifty 
years ago, has long been celebrated for the beauty of its grounds. 

Mr. Crichton, who received his early education at the High 
School of his native city of Edinburgh, studied law with the 
intention of practising at the bar. Having been admitted a 
member of the Faculty of Advocates at the early age of twenty- 
two, he came to enjoy the respect of his brethren in such a high 
d^ree, that he was appointed Advocate-Depute in November, 
1862, and again in December, 1868. He held the important 
office of Vice-Dean for ten years from November, 1876. 



298 History op Old Cummocv. 

Promotion of another kind came to him in 1870, when on the 
ISth July, he was appointed Sheriff of Fife, a position which he 
only resigned in 1886, in order to enter upon the still higher 
duties of the Sheriffdom of the Lothians and Peebles. This office 
he continued to hold till his death, at the age of sixty-six, on the 
S9th May, 1891. Fui-ther testimony is borne to the high esteem 
in which he was held by his fellow officials, by the fact that he 
was elected Convener of Sherifis in January, 1882. 

The day of his funeral was rendered striking by the circum- 
stance that his father, Mr. Hew Crichton, who had attained the 
patriarchal age of ninety-six, and had died only two days before 
him, was buried at the same time in the Dean Cemetery, Edin- 
burgh. 

Sheriff Crichton left behind him the memory of a true Chris- 
tian gentleman, whose private virtues rendered more conspicuous 
the faithfulness with which he discharged his public duties. In 
Cumnock he is remembered for his unfailing kindness and wise 
generosity. 

(11). James Beown. 

Among the distinguished men of recent times to whom our 
parish can lay claim, mention must be made of the Rev. Dr. 
James Brown, of Paisley, who was bom in Cumnock on the 5th 
March, 1886. His father was the Rev. Robert Brown of the 
United Presbyterian Church. At school the boy was a great 
favoiuite. On one occasion a little girl i*an home in tears. When 
asked why she was crying, she sobbed out, ^^ Because Jamie 



Notable Men. 899 



Brown^s got his licks/^ Among his companions he was known as 
^* The Bishop,*^ because during his father^s last illness, he went 
about among the people of the church, inquiring for the sick, 
and conveying to them messages of sympathy from the minister. 

For a year after his father^s death in 1847, young Brown re- 
mained in Cumnock. Part of the time was spent in a lawyer'^s 
office, and he was wont to tell how he began life as a clerk, by 
attending the ** roup ^ of a mad cow at Auchinleck fair. There- 
after his widowed mother removed with her family to Glasgow. 
For four years James served in the City of Glasgow Bank, and 
while still a clerk, enrolled himself as a student at the University. 
At college he showed his literary faculty by contributing to the 
University album, an essay entitled Tlie Village Beatdy and also 
two poems. In 1854 he entered the U.P. Hall, and during his 
course of study there, he acted as sub-editor of Tlie Imperial 
Dictionary of Universal Biography. 

Having been duly licensed to pi-each the gospel, he was called 
to St. James^ Street Church, Paisley, and ordained on the 80th 
August, 1859. His ministry was successful in the highest dqpree. 
The 866 members to whom he went steadily grew in number, till 
at the close of his pastorate 800 names stood upon the roll. A 
handsome new church was built by the congregation in 1884. 
Paisley felt the influence of his powerful mind and energetic 
character. In addition to local work, he took a prominent part 
in the general life of the Church. Not only was he a frequent 
speaker in the Synod, and a valued member of many of its Com- 
mittees, but for eleven years before his death, he was the editor 
of the U.P. Missionary Record. He likewise raised the sum of 



300 HisTOBT OF Old Citmnock. 

£80,000 to free the Synod Hall from debt. In 1878 his Alma 
Mater recognised his worth by conferring on him the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. 

Besides many fugitive articles which appeared in newspapers 
and magazines, Dr. Brown contributed to the ecclesiastical 
literature of the day several excellent biographies. In 18T7 ap- 
peared The Life of a Scottish Probationer, in which he told the 
story of his friend, Thomas Davidson, who, in spite of many 
notable qualities, never secured a settled place in the Church. 
The following year saw the publication of Tlie Life of John 
Eadiej D.D., LL,D,, and in 1884 there came from his pen TTie 
Life of William B. Robertson, D.D., Irvine. He also completed 
and edited The Scottish History and Literature to the Period of 
the Reformation, by his old friend and fellow-student, Dr. John 
M. Ross of the Edinburgh High School. 

Dr. Brown was a great traveller, though sometimes he had to 
travel in search of health. Palestine, the West Indies and 
Australia were all visited by him. He preached his last sermon 
on the closing Sabbath of June, 1890, and died on the 9th 
November following, at the age of fifty-six, in the thirty-second 
year of his ministry. He is buried in Paisley Cemetery. His 
wife, Katharine Brown Scott, unexpectedly predeceased him 
during the summer of 1890. A sketch of his life, prefixed to a 
volume of sermons, was published in 1892 by his son. 



Parish Chips. 301 



CHAPTER XV. 



Parish Chips. 



" Give ns as many anecdotes as yon can." 

— Johnson to Boiwell, 



There are certain items of interest to which it has not been 
possible to refer in the pi*eceding pages, but which ought to 
find a place in the history of the parish. They throw a good 
deal of light on the maimers and customs of olden times. It is 
proposed accordingly to treat of them in this chapter. 

/. — TVie Market afid the Market Cross. 

The weekly market with which our town is familiar is not a 
very ancient institution in its present form. The Statistical 
Account of 179S says, ^^ There is no regular market.*^ Old 
records, however, speak of a weekly market at a very early date. 
The charter, granted to Cumnock by James IV. in 1509, gives 
liberty to the burgh to hold a weekly market on Saturday (die 
Sabbati singidis hebdomadis). Six years before, an Act of 
Parliament had been passed decreeing that ^' there be na merkate 
nor far halden apon halidais, nor zit w^ in kirks and kirkyards 
apoun haly dab or other dais, under the pane of escheting of the 



SOS H18TOEY OF Old Cuiinoci:. 

gud (goods) " (Acts of Parliamtiity vol. III., p. 188). The charter 
of ISOO, therefore, must be interpreted in the light of the Act of 
1508. Wherever the market was held, it could not take place 
in the old burying groimd beside the churcL The law forbade 
such a procedure, though it may have been common once. 
Where, then, was this weekly market held, and on what spot 
was the market cross erected ? 

Old people still with us remember that a market for the sale 
of live stock was held occasionally at the top of the Coldside- 
heads, on an open plot of ground close to the present new 
railway station. Coldsideheads, it may be noticed, is the 
original and correct form of the name of that portion of Glais- 
nock Street, commonly known as Calstoneheads. Such a place 
was doubtless quite convenient for the purposes of a market. 
Yet its use as such, in the opening decades of the nineteenth 
century, was comparatively recent. The charter of 1609 gives 
the right to the burgh of the bai'ony of Cmnnock, not only to 
have a weeklv market, but also to have a market cross ; and 
there can be no doubt that the market would always gather 
round the mcurket cross. Now, the cross was never at the top of 
the Coldsideheads. 

No one is able to recall the time when the cross, which adorns 
the Squai*e, was placed in its present position. Yet it need 
hardly be said that it could not have been put there, until after 
the churchyaixi was removed. A chart in the possession of the 
Msurquis of Bute, and dating at least from 1769, represents the 
cross as standing at the north-east comer of the Square, just 
where the Barrhill Road touches it. Yet that does not seem to 



Pakish Chips. SOS 



have been its original position, though the ground now occupied 
by Hillside was free then for market purposes. 

A reliable tradition affirms that the cross stood near the top 
of the Townhead, where the street is narrowest, and slopes down 
towards the old ironstone pit. A causeway of waterwoni stones 
has been made for some reason at the point. A stone larger 
than its fellows, and about nine inches square, right in the 
middle of the street, marks the place where the cross is said to 
have originally stood. The tradition is constant, and gives, at 
the same time, the explanation of the large stone imbedded in 
the road in a conspicuous manner. A reminiscence corrobora- 
tive of this view lingers in the name, which aged residents give 
to the Townhead. They call it The CrossriffSi that is, the rigs 
which lead to the cross. 

It seems likely, therefore, that from its old site at the far end 
of the Townhead, sometime after the obliteration of the church- 
yard, the cross was taken and erected, first in the north-east 
comer of the Squai'e, and then in its present position close 
beside the church. Yet it does not seem to be the original cross. 
On one side of the ornamented stone which forms its apex, there 
runs the inscription, "1708, repaired in 1778." The first of 
these dates must refer to the period when this cross was set up ; 
the second date, in all probability, points to the time when it 
was placed in its present position. If so, our cross must be the 
successor of the one raised in terms of the charter of 1509, 
though perhaps after all our ancestors did not avail themselves 
of the privilege granted by the King. The arms of the Earls of 
Dumfries, with the Crichton motto, God send gracej appear also 



804 HmoBY OF Old Cumnock. 

on the apex of the cross, but the carving is a good deal weather- 
worn. 

The town may well be proud of its old cross, though one 
cannot help regretting that it should have been made for many 
years the support of a useful but commonplace gas lamp. Quite 
recently, when our Commissioners secured a burgh seal, it was 
thought most fitting that it should bear the impress of the cross. 
All official documents, therefore, drawn up in the name of the 
town, are stamped with the representation of the old cross of 
Cumnock, reared at first outside the town in the immemorial 
market place at the Townhead, and then erected on the ground 
consecrated by the dust of our fathers, who had often bought 
and sold in its immediate presence. 

//. — Fairs. 

In addition to the right of holding markets at the cross in 
terms of the royal charter, an annual fair was permitted to be 
held in autumn on the occasion of the festival of St. Matthew 
the Apostle. The date of St. Matthew"'s festival is September 
21st. The fair, however, was not to close with the feast of the 
apostle. It was to continue for eight days. As long as it was 
kept up, this fair must have been the great event of the year in 
Cumnock, bringing together a vast concourse of people from the 
surrounding districts, and offering opportunity to packmen and 
pedlars to display their wares, and to jugglers and minstrels to 
amuse the crowds which gathered round them. It would also be 
made the occasion for games and sports of different kinds. In 



Parish Chips. 805 



the main, however, it would be a great trading institution, at 
which articles of all descriptions, now provided by shops, were 
presented for sale. Eggs, butter, cheese, grain, meal, flour, salt, 
clothing, boots and shoes, live stock and every variety of utensil 
for the house and for the farm, in wood and tin, in earthenware 
and iron, would be exposed to meet the wants of town and 
country alike. 

No record of this special fair remains, nor can we tell how long 
the people of Cumnock availed themselves of the permission of 
the king, to hold it r^ularly as September came round. In 
course of time it was given up, and its place taken by three fairs 
held respectively in June, July, and October. These fairs were 
appointed by Act of Parliament in 1681, and authority was 
given to the Baron of Cumnock, or rather to his son, to uplift 
all duties leviable on such occasions. The Act of Parliament is 
so interesting that it may be given. 

^^ Warrand to Charles, Lord Creichtoun, for three yearly ffidres 
and a weekly mercat at the toun of Cumnock. 

*^ Our Sovereign Lord and Estates of Parliament, taking to 
consideration that it will be very convenient to his Maties leidges 
that there be three fiaires keeped at the toun of Cumnock yearly, 
besyds the weekly mercat formerly granted by Act of Parliament, 

^^ Therefore his Matie, with advice and consent of the Estates 
of Parliament, doth hereby give and grant to Charles, Lord 
Creichtoun, his airs and successors, the fiill libertie and priviledge 

of three free fiaires to be keeped at Cumnock yearly ^The first 

to be keeped the second Tuesday and Wednesday of June, to be 

called , the second upon the second Tuesday and Wednesday 

u 



S06 History of Old Cumnock. 



of July, to be called , and the third the last Tuesday and 

Wednesday of October, to be called yearly, with the liberty 

of the said mercat upon weekly in all time coming ; with 

power to the said Lord Creichtoun and his foresaids, or such as 
they shall appoint, to uplift and exact the tolles, customs and 
other dewties pertaining thereunto, and with all other priviledges, 
liberties and immunities pertaining to or accustomed in any other 
ffaires or mercats.'" 

It would have been interesting to have had the names of these 
fairs inserted, but for some reason they are not given. By and 
by, the dates, on which they were held, were altered, probably 
because they came too close to each other. At any rate it was 
arranged that, instead of these three fairs, four were to be held 
during the year, viz. : — the Bsce fair on the third Thursday after 
Candlemas O.S., the May fair on the Wednesday after the last 
Tuesday of May O.S., the Scythe fair on the Wednesday after 
the first Tuesday of July O.S., and the Harvest fair on the Wed- 
nesday after the third Tuesday of October O.S. Thus, while the 
dates of the original fairs were altered, an addition of one was 
made to their number. Moreover they were to last only for one 
day each. 

The relation of the Baron to the fairs remained just as it was 
under the Act of 1681. He continued to impose certain customs 
" on all cattle, hoi-ses, meal, cheese, butter, and other goods, on 
each crame, stand, or stall where goods were exposed, and on all 
shows, exhibitions, etc.*" These duties were levied and paid 
without question till 1833, when James Crawford, one of our 
townsmen, raised the question of the lawfulness of their exaction, 



Parish Chips. 30? 



and instigated those who used the market-place on such occasions 
to withhold pajrment. The ground of his objection was that, in 
the charter of 1509, the right to collect the customs was conferred 
on the magistrates of the burgh. Lord Bute took the case to 
court where it was decided in his favour. He continued to levy 
the duties till 1869, when he gave authority to the Provost and 
Commissioners to lift them for behoof of the town. With com- 
mendable generosity, the Marquis sought no equivalent for the 
surrender of his rights. The dues levied by the magistrates in 
recent years have amounted to <f 10 or £12 per annum. 

Three of these statutory fairs continue to be kept. The Scythe 
Fair was given up for the first time in July, 1898, though it and 
the May Fair had long ceased to be well attended. The Race 
Fair and the Harvest, or Hin-Hairst Fair, alone are now of any 
importance, and their popularity appears to be on the increase. 
It is computed that over 2000 persons come to them from neigh- 
bouring parishes. They are in large measure hiring fairs, at which 
servants chiefly for farm work are engaged. Much of the hiring or 
feeing is done at the registries which exist in the town. Formerly 
such business was transacted in the open street, by direct applica- 
tion on the part of the servants wishing to be engaged, or of the 
farmer needing a ploughboy or a daiiymaid. 

Shows of difierent kinds, shooting-ranges, swings, etc., offer 
their attractions at these fairs to the youthful crowd, while stalls 
filled with sweetmeats and toys, as well as with a great variety of 
small articles more or less useful in their nature, tempt visitors 
to purchase. The sale of cloth, books, kitchen and dairy requi- 
sites, together with agricultural produce, has gradually died out. 



808 HisToar of Old Cumnock. 

Cattle and horses, too, in course of time, ceased to be offered for 
sale. The institution of auction marts, now universally patronised 
by farmers at larger centres like A3T and Kilmarnock, hastened 
their disappearance. 

One other feature of these old fairs deserves notice. Up till 
fifty years ago, it was no uncommon thing for those who set up 
stalls to bring their supply of sweetmeats, nuts and toys, in little 
wheeled carts drawn by dogs. Two or even three dogs were 
sometimes yoked to one of these carts. It was a sight which 
evoked interest among young people, to see the dogs make a rush 
at the steep ascent of the old Lugar bridge and go down the 
other side. Frequently forty or fifty dogs were gathered together 
in the Square. Imagination is left to picture the snarling and 
the fighting. When the fair was over, they trotted ofi^ home 
again, or made their way to another fair held elsewhere. 

A popular incident in the March fair is the horse race. So 
integral a portion of the day's proceedings is it held to be, that 
the fair is commonly known as The Race, It has been run for 
many years in a field belonging to the Dumfries Arms Hotel. 
Formerly it took place down the Ayr Road, the horses running 
a little way beyond Bankcnd farmhouse and back to the starting 
point close to the town. The high giound on the south side of 
the Ayr Road, then unbuilt upon, was always crowded with 
spectators, who watched the progress of the horses from their 
elevated position. 

The race is a very old institution, though it may not have 
been kept up with unbroken regularity. As far back as 1610, 
the Register of the Privy Council tells us of a quarrel taking 



Parish Chips. 809 



place on the ^ occasioun of ane horse race whiche was then run 
at Cumnoke.'" In 1778, the Session records mention ^^ the Draff 
race in June last.^ 

///. — Riding the Brooae. 

A custom, to which the present generation is entirely strange, 
formed more than half a century ago, a very prominent feature 
in connection with the celebration of marriage. At an earlier 
period, it was even more characteristic of the proceedings. It 
was known by the name of ** riding the broose,** or " the braize." 

Immediately after the knot had been tied, the young men of 
the company, and sometimes the young women as well, rode off 
on horseback to the house that was to be the home of the newly 
wedded couple. There the mother of the bridegroom usually 
awaited the arrival of the marriage party. The rider, who 
reached his destination first, turned back at once to meet the 
bride and bridegroom, carrying with him a bottle of wine or 
whisky, with which the health of the happy pair was drunk. 
Great emulation was frequently displayed in order to win this 
race. The fleetest horses in the district were borrowed for the 
contest. The owner of the victorious steed was proud of his 
achievement. Bums makes his Auld Farmer say to his Auld 
Mare Maggie, 

At brooset thon had ne'er a fellow 
For pith and speed. 

People in the parish, by no means old, tell of great feats done 
on these occasions, and also of disastrous falls experienced by too 
hasty riders. 



810 History of Old Cumnock. 

A custom like this must have arisen out of special circum- 
stances. In the end as our fathers knew it, the broose was 
merely a bit of amusement, but in the olden days it had a much 
more serious meaning. A very probable suggestion traces its 
origin back to those unsettled times, when it was no uncommon 
thing for a bride to be carried off by a disappointed suitor, who 
appeared with his retainers upon the scene and forcibly kidnapped 
the lady. Accordingly it was a suitable thing, that the mother 
of the brid^room, who was not present at the marriage herself^ 
should have early information that no mishap had occurred on 
the way to church or the minister's house, where the marriage 
service at the time usually took place. The race was undertaken 
with that end in view, and he who first arrived with the good 
news was crowned with special honour. Sometimes he may have 
had to announce that, willingly or unwillingly, the bride had 
been snatched away. 

Fully forty years have gone by, since the broose was last ridden 
in Cumnock. Almost the final occasion on which it was witnessed 
was at a marriage at High Garleffan. The goal in this case was 
the farm of Watston. When the late Lord Bute was married to 
I^y Sophia Hastings in April, 1846, it is said that the tenantry, 
after entering the Dumfries House grounds, broke " into what 
used to be called the riding of the broose.** (Paterson, Autolnog. 
ReminiscenceSy p. 197). 

Penny weddings were fairly frequent in earlier times. They 
got their name in the following way. The invited guests were 
expected to make a small contribution towards the expense of 
the marriage supper. After the fiddler was paid for his services. 



Parish Chips. 811 



any sum left was regarded as an expression of the goodwill of 
the guests towards the newly married pair, but as the gift in 
many cases was limited to a shilling, the balance would be small 
after the supper accounts had been discharged. If rumour 
speaks correctly, the practice of holding penny weddings is not 
quite obsolete in our own day. 

Another custom connected with weddings claims still to linger 
in the district, though it has almost died out. On the night 
before the wedding, the companions of the bridegroom made 
their way to his house and forcibly washed his feet. The fun 
ran high if, as in most cases, the officious attendants used not 
soap, but soot The result need not be described. This, how- 
ever, in all probability, was an addition to the ceremony 
prompted by the spirit of frolic. The origin of the practice as 
first observed is difficult to trace. It may possibly have an 
ecclesiastical beginning, and correspond to the washing of the 
feet which, in the case of catechumens, preceded baptism. In 
Roman Catholic days our fathers were taught to regard marriage 
as a sacrament of the Church. 

IV. — Baptism. 

In connection with baptism a custom prevailed, which was 
looked upon as necessary for the future welfare of the child. 
Bad luck was deemed to be the penalty of failing to observe it. 
The mother or nurse, who carried the child to church, gave to 
the first person whom she met, a piece of bread or cake. Even 
in recent years this has been done. Apparently it was thought 



81S HisTOKY OF Old Cumnock. 



that the little child, in whose name the gift was bestowed, would 
never come to want himself, after having shown his charity on 
the first occasion on which he was taken out of doors. For, of 
course, the old fashion, wisely departed £rom now, was formerly 
rigidly observed, in accordance with which the visit of the child 
to church for baptism was the earliest time he was carried out of 
the house, into the big world in which he had begun to take his 
place. 

V, — Funeral Customs. 

Special notice must be taken of a custom which prevails in 
connection with funerals. The practice of having a brief 
religious service, conducted by the minister or an elder, when 
the body is placed in the coffin, is of long standing in Cumnock. 
Though it is found in other parts of Scotland, it seems to have 
its strongest hold upon the counties of the south-west. By 
some families it is being given up, while it is hardly ever ex- 
pected that the minister should be present for the purpose at 
any great distance from town. Persons brought up in other 
districts of the country, where the practice does not prevail, are 
naturally surprised on l>ecoming acquainted with this strange 
and unnecessary procedure. 

How long the custom of having all the members of the family 
and other friends present with the minister on such an occasion, 
has existed in our neighbourhood, it is impossible to say. It has 
simply come down from generation to generation. Very likely it 
was general at one time over the whole of Scotland. 



Pabish Chips. 818 



Its origin has been traced with some degree of probability to 
an Act of the Scots Parliament of the year 1686, ordaining that 
^ no corps of any persons whatever be buried in any shirt, sheet, 
or anything else except in plain linen, the relatives of the 
deceased being ordered to repair to the minister of the parish 
and declare on oath within eight days that the rule had been 
complied witL^ In 1695 there was a further Act, decreeing 
that ^^ the nearest elder or deacon of the Paroch, with one neigh- 
bour or two, be called by the persons concerned, and be present 
to the putting of the dead corpse in the coffin, that they may see 
the same done, and that the foresaid be observed.^ 

The reason of these Acts is evident. It was hoped in this way 
to extend the use and encourage the manufacture of linen in 
Scotland. Certainly the method chosen to protect and develop 
a national industry was very peculiar. Be that as it may, an ex- 
tremely likely reason is supplied why in our part of the country, 
there is still found the custom of holding a brief religious service 
at the *^ chesting ^ of those who have died. If it b still to be 
kept up, the hope may be legitimately expressed that little 
children be not present at an ordeal which proves terrifying to 
many of them, and awakens pamful thoughts in their mmds long 
after. Yet there seems no reason why the ordinary custom of 
the country should not be adopted here, in accordance with which 
this necessary act is performed in utmost privacy, and at a 
di£Perent hour £rom that at which the minister reads the cheering 
words of Holy Scripture, and beseeches the blessing of heaven to 
rest on the sorrow-stricken home. 

It is a pleasure to note one improvement which is steadily be- 



314 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

coming more marked on such occasions. Very seldom is wine or 
other drink o£Pered to those who assemble in the house of mourn- 
ing. Even the last ten years bear decided witness to the 
disappearance of the practice of o£Pering refreshment. Certamly 
no excess was possible in recent times. The wine or other 
stimulant supplied was meant to be taken only in a very slight 
measure. But that is only another reason why the custom should 
be totally abolished. 

In other days, however, it was very di£Perent The intoxicating 
drink consumed at funerals was large, and often it had a serious 
and sad e£Pect on some of those who had come to show respect to 
the dead. A hundred years ago the state of matters in Cumnock 
on such occasions was so discreditable, that the townspeople, 
headed by the minister. Dr. Miller, drew up a bond by which all 
who signed it, became obliged to keep the regulations it set 
forth, with regard to the amount of drink offered at funerals. 
The document may be regarded as unique. It is in the possession 
of Mr. M*Cowan of Whiteliaven, and is given here in full. Re- 
form was urgently called for, and, accordingly, reform was made 
as the document itself will testify. 

Covenant of Householders regarding the Method of 

conducting funerals. 

" We, Subscribers, being in or near to the village of Cumnock, 
taking into our serious consideration that, by the present method 
of conducting burials among us, much time is misspent and money 
thrown away, and that by entertainments given at many of them 
the Living are injured and the Dead in many cases dishonoured ; 



Parish Chips. 315 



and being convinced that a reform is necessary, have agreed and 
do by our respective subscriptions hereto annexed agree, bind and 
oblige ourselves to the Rules or Articles following, viz. : — 

<i jmo. That none of us shall give any general or public en- 
tertainment either immediately before or after the 
Burial of our friends, and that, exclusive of the members 
of our family and those connected with the chief 
mourner by blood or relationship, we will not invite 
any number exceeding 12 to partake of the refresh- 
ment that may be provided suitable to the occasion, 
which we hereby agree shall not exceed 3 glasses of 
wine, or where this cannot be purchased, one glass of 
spirituous liquors, and bread propoi*tioued ; Binding 
and obliging ourselves to pay a penalty of Five Shill- 
ings sterling in all cases where any of us shall be found 
to do otherwise. 

^^2^^' That in our Invitations to Burials we shall invite 
persons to attend punctually at the time at which it is 
intended to carry forth the corpse for interment, which 
hour being notified to the persons invited by the ring- 
ing of the church bell for so long a time as to allow 
the Invited to come from the most distant part of the 
village, the corpse shall be immediately carried forth 
to interment, under the penalty of Two Shillings in 
case of Failzie. 

"3****- That the company invited shall be received at the 
Door of the House, where the corpse lyes at the time, 
by some of the relations of the deceased, with a Bow 
and Uncovering of the head, and the corpse being 
carried forth shall precede and the company follow to 
the place of interment. 



816 



HuTOKY OF Old Cuicnocw. 



^^4^ Tliat, in order to carry the above specified Refonn 
into execution, such of the subscribers as may be 
judged best acquainted with the mode of Burials in 
Towns where they are properly conducted, shall, upon 
being called, cheerfully give their assistance to the 
same. 

** 5^* That the fines raised and collected from Delinquents 
shall be applied for purchasing coffins and towards the 
necessary expense of interring the Poor in the village 

or neighbourhood, which fines shall be paid into , 

who shall be accountable for the same to any of the 
subscribers desirous to know in what manner they have 
been expended. 

^* These regulations we bind and oblige ourselves to observe, 
as witness our respective subscriptions at Cumnock, the 5th day 
of May, in the year 1800.^ 

Among the 82 signatures attached to this document, the 
following names occur : — 



THOBiAs Miller. 
John Gibb. 
William Simson. 
James Howat. 
Willlam M'Geachan. 
James Moodie. 
Adam Crichton. 
John Latta. 
Thomas Latta. 



George Drummond. 
William M^Cowan. 
William Crichton. 
Andrew Murray. 
John Vallance. 
Andrew Hodge. 
William Murray. 
James Taylor. 
John King. 



If, by this agreement, the amoimt of hospitality was limited 
to three glasses of wine or one glass of spirits for each mourner, 
we can easily imagine how liberal the allowance must have been 



Parish Chifs. 317 



before. And yet it was believed by some, that such an exhibi- 
tion of hospitality was a needful and proper mark of respect 
towards the person who had died. So much was this the case, 
that the first among those who signed this covenant, into whose 
house death entered, pled with the committee to let him go back 
to the old custom. Wisely this request was refused. 

The old state of things continued in some quarters, however. 
All householders in the parish did not come under the covenant 
Mr. Bannatjme, writing in 1837, says : — *^ It was very much the 
custom some time ago to give half a dozen rounds or more of 
spirits, wine, etc., at funerals ; but there has been a decided im- 
provement in this respect in later years.*" (New Stat, Account.) 

Though this document of the year 1800 exists to show what 
Cumnock customs were in relation to funerals a century ago, we 
need not think that our town was worse than other places in 
Ayrshire or the rest of Scotland. It is only too true that such 
a state of matters prevailed over the whole country, and it says 
a good deal for the people of Cumnock at the time, that they 
sought to combat this evil in a way which some persons r^arded 
as stringent Yet when we look at the picture presented to us 
in the old Covenant of Householders, and compare it with the 
procedure which now obtains in regard to this question, we 
cannot be too thankful that an advance of the most commend- 
able kind has been made, and that our present method of ful- 
filling the last rites to the dead, is much more seemly than the 
method of our ancestors. 



318 HurroEY of Old Cumnock. 



VL — Roads and Means of Traveh 

At the close of the eighteenth century, roads were not 
numerous in the parish. There were certain regular highways, 
but they were not at all well kept. In addition, one or two 
cross-roads had been formed by the Earl of Dumfries to 
facilitate communication with his coal and lime works. These 
private roads, which the public were allowed to use, were only 
10 or 12 miles in extent {Stat. Ace). They were the beginning, 
however, of that network of splendid roads, which now cover the 
surface of the parish and afford easy access to its most distant 
parts. Some idea of the condition of our roads in still earlier 
times, may be gathered from an anecdote told of one of our 
kings. The time is the first half of the sixteenth century. 

^^Sir William Hamilton of Som was Lord Treasurer to 
James V. When his daughter and heiress was about to be 
married to Lord Greorge Seton, the King resolved to honour his 
Treasurer with a visit to Som Castle. ... It would appear 
that His Majesty had a most comfortless journey to Som; he 
had to pass through a long and dreary tract of moor, moss, and 
miry clay, where there was neither road nor bridge, and to crown 
the whole, when about halfway from Glasgow, his horse got into 
a quagmire from which His Majesty was with difficulty extri- 
cated. From want of better accommodation, he was under the 
necessity of sitting down by the edge of a well to take a cold re- 
freshment on a cold day. He at length declared that if he were 
to play a trick on the devil, he would send him to a bridal in 




Parish Chips. 819 



Sorn in the middle of winter.^ (Forsjrth, Beauties of Scotland^ 
II., p. 487.) Now, we may rest assured that, if the route to 
Sorn from Edinburgh by Muirkirk and Cumnock had been in 
better condition than the road the King actually took, he would 
have chosen to travel by it. We must therefore believe that our 
parish roads were in a miserable state at the time, and in that 
state they remained till after the middle of the eighteenth 
century. 

How then was communication canned on ? How, for instance, 
did a farmer perform his ordinary work and take his crops to 
market ? For without roads, wheeled carts could not be used. 
Of horses there was no lack, and upon their labour as beasts of 
burden, the farmer had mainly to depend. He employed them to 
draw his crops of hay and com to the stackyard on broad wooden 
trays, while heavier material, like potatoes, was conveyed in large 
panniers or creels hung across the back of the horse. This mode 
of transit was also the only one available for taking produce to 
the market, and naturally it was adopted. The sight of 50 or 
100 horses, so laden at the great fairs of Cumnock, may have 
been primitive, but it could not but be extremely picturesque. 

Before the introduction of carriages, consequent on the im- 
provement in the state of the roads, riding and walking were the 
only means by which people could pass from place to place. 
Walking was the more common method. To church, to market, 
and to school, to any place where business or inclination took 
them, the inhabitants, for the most part, required to go on foot. 
Even until fairly recent times, it was no unusual thing for those 
who lived in distant parts of the parish to walk barefoot on 



820 HurroKY of Old Cumnock. 

Sabbath to church, carrying their shoes and stockings in their 
hand. In this fashion they came close to the town ; then, having 
washed the dust from their feet at one of the neighbouring bums, 
they put on their shoes and stockings, and were ready to enter 
the house of prayer. It was the habit of one or two shoemakers 
in town to have a ^^bojme^ of water in their workshop on Sab* 
bath, with a supply of towels, which their customers were at 
liberty to come and use. 

Though most people walked on Sabbath to church, a few rode. 
It was a frequent practice for two to ride on the same horse — a 
farmer and his wife thus making their way together to towut 
Sometimes a child took the place of the goodwife. Even after 
the necessity of this mode of travel was past, old people liked to 
keep up the custom. Some among us still remember the old 
tenant of Boreland Mains and his wife journeying regularly down 
to church, both seated on their stout farm horse. Panniers were 
also used for the conveyance of little children. 

Gradually this style of things disappeared. When roads 
became general, carts began to be used. Dr. Miller tells us that 
in 1793, there were in the parish 5 caiTiages and 150 carts. The 
farm cart, therefore, was now employed to bring the family to 
church. Clean straw, or sacks stuiFed with hay, made the ride 
as comfortable as possible. The stable-yard of every inn in 
Cumnock on that day was crowded. So numerous were the carts 
that, even along the side of the sti'eet, they were arranged, with 
the horses unyoked and tied to the shafts. The present genera- 
tion has seen another change. Carts have entirely disappeared 
as a means of conveyance to church and market. Gigs and dog* 




Pa&isu Chips. 8S1 



carts abound, while even an ordinary farm road of the present 
day excels the best kept road of which the parish could boast a 
century and a half ago. 

It was only, however, after the nineteenth century was ushered 
in, that the great improvement in the roads of Ayrshire took 
place. Naturally our county held a leading position in this 
respect, for Macadam, the maker of modem roads, was a native 
of Ayr. Forsyth tells us, in his Beauties of Scotland^ published 
in 1805, of the progress made in our locality. ^^ A great zeal,^ 
he says, ^^ for improvements of every sort exists in Airshire. This 
in particular appears from the state of the roads. ... In 
this respect few counties on the whole are so well accommodated. 
In all directions where land or water gravel can be procured, the 
roads are formed of these materials. The turnpike roads are 
made and repaired by the produce of the toUs, and cross roads by 
the statute labour of the di£Perent parishes. The usual breadth 
is conformable to the statutory r^ulations, being never less than 
24 feet wide for bye-roads, and 84 feet for turnpike roads.**^ 
(II., p. 487). 

There were six tolls in the parish. One was in the town at 

the present Bank of Scotland, another at Logan, and a third on 

the Polquhap Road. There were bars likewise at Garrallan, 

Moflsback, and Sykeside. As the town extended, the toll at the 

Bank of Scotland was removed, and in its place a bar put at 

Bridgend, and another at the Pottery Row. To prevent traffic 

evading the old toll at the Bank, by going along New Bridge 

Street, an iron gate was erected at the bridge near the United 

Presbyterian Church. It was always kept shut. Foot passengers 

w 



dS2 Hurroar of Old Cumnock 

- - 

made use of a side gate. The entrance to the town from Auchin- 
leck was covered by a toll at the comer of the road leading to 
the Rigg farm. All tolls were abolished in 1883. 

The road from Cumnock to Ochiltree was altered in 1887. 
The old road, which was hilly, ran nearer the Lugar. Its 
proximity to Dumfries House made the Marquis desire to change 
its course. The alteration, which extends for fully a mile, was 
carried out chiefly by the labour of the weavers whose trade then 
was slack. The old road is still well marked within the policies 
of Lord Bute, and is adorned with some splendid beech trees. 

With the introduction of good roads into the parish, the 
building of bridges became a necessity. At an earlier period, 
fords across the Lugar and Glaisnock were found sufficient, but 
as soon as coaches b^an to run laden with passengers, and carts 
with all manner of goods, it was felt to be unsuitable, as well as 
unsafe, to trust to a shifting path in the middle of a stream, 
sometimes heavily swollen by the rain. 

In the year 175S a bridge was thrown over the Lugar at 
Stepends. In all likelihood, it was the first which was built. It 
met, however, with an untimely end, and brought sudden death 
to a number of workmen engaged in its construction. The inci- 
dent is thus told in the Scots Moffozine of that year. " On the 
8th August several workmen employed in building a bridge over 
the Lugar at Cumnock in tiiie shire of Ayr, in order to shelter 
themselves from a heavy shower of rain, went in under a new 
finished arch from which the cumb or timber arch had been 
taken away the day before. All of a sudden the arch fell ; by 
which four men and four boys were killed, three had their legs 



Parish Chips. S2d 



broken, several others were hurt, and a horse was killed. This 
is thought to have been occasioned by the arch being too low. 
It was fifty-five feet wide, and had but eight feet of spring.*" It 
is somewhat singular that when the present bridge was being 
constructed over the Lugar at the same place, an accident of a 
similar nature took place, though happily without loss of life. 

Another familiar bridge in the town crossed the Glaisnock 
close to Tower Street. Like its companion bridge at Stepends, 
it was taken down over thirty years ago, and another substituted 
for it, which seems so much a part of the street, that the name 
by which it is usually known, " The Bridge,^ appears inappropri- 
ate until we renrind oui*selves that the water runs below out of 
sight. New Bridge Street indicates by its name that another 
bridge was built in the town for the public convenience. It is 
situated at the junction of the Glaisnock with the Lugar. The 
advent of the railway caused the erection of the two stately 
viaducts, which form such a conspicuous feature in our local 
scenery. 

VIL — Dress and Food in Olden Times. 

As late as 1820, a few old men kept up the fashion in dress of 
a former generation. Tliey wore the broad Kilmarnock bonnet, 
the long breasted waistcoat, the blue or brown swallow-t€ul coat, 
knee breeches, and shoes adorned with large buckles. Some, 
whose social position was high, dressed in pantaloons, and wore 
long hair, tied with ribbon. The plaid was the universal wrap 
both of men and women. It was not till long after the middle 



d24 HurroKT of Old Cumnock. 

of the nineteenth century that the less picturesque greatcoat 
took its place. Occasionally the plaid is seen still. Its dis- 
appearance is a change in fashion which may well be regretted. 

Up to the same time a few old women continued to go to 
church witli a mutch and a black silk hood over it. They 
carried their Bible usually wrapped in a snow-white handker- 
chief, and holding in their hand a piece of fragrant ^^apple- 
ringie'* or sweet-scented balm. After the mutch was discarded, 
the black silk hood was retained. It, too, at length disappeared. 

The food of the people a hundred years ago was very simple. 
Forsyth tells us that in Ayrshire then " very little butcher meat 
was used, except a proportion which every family salted at 
Martinmas to serve during winter with their groats or prepared 
barley, and kail or broth ; the rest of their food consisting at 
that time only of porridge, oatmeal cakes, and some milk or 
cheese." (Beauties of ScotUmdy II., p. 444). To-day, the 
style of living is very different, and the good old custom of pre- 
paring porridge for all the members of the family, at least once 
a day, is too much a thing of the pcist Tea and loaf bread, 
with other too tempting products of the baker's art, have taken 
its place. It is possibly the case that the disappearance of 
porridge explains the disappearance of health, and the advent of 
many complaints to which our ancestors seem to have been 
entire strangers. 

In the end of the eighteenth century, there were just two per- 
sons classed as bakers in Cumnock. Home-made bread was 
mostly used. Butchers'* shops, too, as we are acquainted with 
them, were unknown then. Even as late as 1830, it was the 



Parish Chips. 8S5 



custom at the October fair to buy a sheep or small bullock, 
which, when killed and salted, supplied the household with meat 
during winter. Sometimes two or three families clubbed to- 
gether and shared the *^mart^ among them. In summer a 
dealer occasionally killed a sheep, for a portion of which he had 
already received orders. Then presenting himself at the door of 
a likely customer, he would cry, ^^ Are ye wantin^ a fine leg o^ 
mutton the day?^ These primitive times and ways have cer- 
tainly long passed away. As in other towns butchers^ premises 
abound. 

Dr. Miller, in his Statistical Jccounty gives us the price of 
various articles of food. In 1793, 

Beef was 4^d. to 6d. per lb. of S4 oz. 

Mutton, 4d. to 5d. „ „ 

Veal, 4d. „ „ 

Lamb, 6d. „ „ 

Eggs, 8d. to 4j^. per dozen. 

Fowls, from 8d. to 1/-. 

Sweet Milk Cheese, from 6/- to 8/- per stone. 

Common Cheese, from 8/6 to 5/- „ 

Meal, lid. to llj^d. per peck. 

VIIL — Tenants' OUigati/ons to their Landlords. 

Throughout Ayrshire long ago, tenants were burdened with a 
great number of vexatious servitudes. Before entering upon 
their farms, they were forced to come under an obligation to 
give to the landlord each year so many days^ ploughing and so 



886 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

many days^ harvesting. As these obligations could only be ful- 
filled at the very time the farmer wished to plough his own 
fields and reap his own crops, they necessarily interfered with the 
working of his farm. By the end of the eighteenth century, 
however, these burdens were almost entu*ely removed (Forsyth, 
n., p. 443). About the same period, feuars in Cumnock had to 
give one day^s shearing to Lord Bute in addition to their ground 
rent. This, for instance, was the condition in the feu charter of 
the well-known Ayrshire banking firm of Douglas, Heron, & Co. 
Their property, to which the burden of giving one day^s shearing 
was attached, stood in Glaisnock Street, on the site of Mr. 
M^tchie^s house. In 1792 John M^Letchie, after the failure 
of Douglas, Heron, & Co., took over the property, and agreed to 
give a day^s shearing when called upon. 

It was quite common for a portion of the rent to be paid in 
kind. Hens and chickens, along with oatmeal and beir, were 
taken at the stipulated time to the landlord. Thus, on the 
Dumfries House estate in 1789, in addition to the rent paid in 
money, the farms of Boyleston and Over Glaisnock had each to 
furnish 6 hens and 12 chickens. Over Glaisnock had also to 
carry 20 loads of coal. Knocktenu, besides providing 8 hens 
and 8 chickens, had to furnish 1 boll of meal and 40 loads of 
coal. Skerrington Mill paid, as part of its rent, 2 bolls of meal. 
The following statement of the payments in kind, on the whole 
of the Dumfries House estate, in the year mentioned, is of interest. 
The various tenants had to furnish — 

6 bolls of meal, 
4 pecks beir. 



Parish Chips. 827 



316 hens, valued at 9d., 

812 chickens, valued at 4^d., 

782 loads of coal, valued at 8d. per load. 

Ten years later, even this large supply of poultry and coal had 
increased, for in 1799, there were provided 489 hens, 488 chickens, 
and 821 loads of coal. Certainly the hen-house and the coal 
cellar of the lord superior of the day were kept fairly well stocked. 
Of course a load of coal would only be what could be carried on 
horseback in creels. The farmer did not purchase the coal ; he 
simply conveyed the allotted quantity from the pit to its required 
destination. 

On the other estates in the parish, the same custom prevailed. 
Even after the second half of the nineteenth century began, it 
lingered in a few cases. Meadow farm supplied its annual charge 
of fowls to Glaisnock House until 1858. Mr. Bannatyne tells us 
in 1887, that though rents were generally paid then in money, a 
few tenants gave ^^ one-third money and two-thirds cheese and 
meal, according to fiars' prices.^ 

In another way the landloixl had power over his tenants. In 
virtue of the old law of hypothec, the right was given to him to 
carry off the cattle of any farmer on his estate, who failed to pay 
his rent. This right was sometimes exercised. A case happened 
towards the end of the eighteenth century. Patrick Macdowall 
of Freugh, was Earl of Dumfries at the time. His lordship, who 
had been in the army, did not take much interest in the manage- 
ment of his estate. The stock of a farmer who had fallen behind 
with his rent had been seized, and put in some enclosure not far 
from the mansion-house. The cows, finding themselves in strange 



9f8 HimoiY OF Old Comnocx. 

quarters, were restless and excited. The noise attracted the EarPs 
attention. On learning the cause, he ordered the cattle to be 
taken back at once, and ^^not kept there to make a noise.^ 
Doubtless, the farmer appreciated at once the sensitive nature of 
the Earl, and the love of home displayed by his captured cows. 

IX. — Dovecots. 

There is only one dovecot in the parish. It is near Dumfries 
House, on the west side. Though there is now no stock of 
pigeons in it, long ago it would be used for the purpose of keepmg 
them. It is well no others were erected in the district. For the 
inmates of a pigeon-house of ordinary size were able to consume 
SO bolls of grain in harvest. This was a serious matter for the 
farmer. Accordingly, at an early date, the law stepped in to 
protect him. In the year 1617, a Scottish statute enacted that 
no person should build a dovecot, ^^ unless he had lands and 
teinds, extending in yearly rent to 10 chalders victuals, lying 
within two miles of it, nor build more than one within the said 
bounds.'" This was a wise provision. Yet it is well that the 
only pigeon-house seemingly ever erected in the parish, should 
now be without inhabitant The date 1671, cut upon it, indicates 
the year in which it was built. It was repaired in 1842. 

X, — Kims, 

Some kind of entertainment was usually given long ago to the 
reapers after the harvest was gathered in. This went by the 
name of the Kim or Harvest Home. As our p€u:t of Ajrrshire is 



Parish Chifs. 829 



not a great corn-growing district, the number of reapers hired for 
the harvest was comparatively smalL Many of those who were 
so employed were Irish, who came across usually to England, 
where the harvest was ready first, and then made their way north 
to Scotland. We know that the local weavers took their p€u:t in 
field work when the crops were ripe. Shoemakers and other 
tradespeople likewise offered themselves for hire. Women and 
boys acted as bandsters. 

Up to the third or fourth decade of the nineteenth century, 
the work of reaping was wholly done with the hook. An 
interesting contest took place at the close of shearing. A few 
stalks of uncut grain were tied together, and, from a little 
distance, the reapers in turn threw their hooks at them. The 
first who managed to sever them, received some reward for his 
dexterity. At the kirn which followed, just before the reapers 
left, the fisurmer provided the entertainment. The night was 
spent in merriment, dancing being kept up to the strains of the 
fiddle often till break of day. The character of these gatherings 
may be seen from the fact that John French called one of the 
reels he composed The Kim^ while Bums in his IIaUowe*en sings, 

"Au' aye a rantin' kirn we gat." 

XI.-^Beggars. 

It is only about fifty years ago since the custom died out, by 
which cripple b^gars were carried about in handbarrows. As 
they were so disabled that they could not move about themselves, 
they secured a handbarrow, similar to those builders use for 



380 History of Old Cumnock. 

carrying large stones, the only difference being that the centre 
portion was a box. In this humble carriage the mendicant was 
placed, and then borne by sturdy hands from one farmhouse to 
another, or from one door in town to the next. If he appeared 
in the morning at a farm, usually the farmer transferred him to 
a neighbouring house before nightfall ; but, if he arrived toward 
evening, it was necessary to keep him till next day. Certain 
farmhouses were famed for the hospitable treatment of these 
visitoi*s. Craigends and Glengyron enjoyed this reputation. In 
such houses beggars^ blankets were kept 

Many infirm persons were lifted in this way through the parish. 
In return for food and shelter, they were able to make a certain 
payment in the form of local gossip, of which they had ever a 
fresh supply. Occasionally a poor cripple dispensed with the 
favour of being carried from house to house, by appearing in a 
little wheeled box drawn by two powerful dogs. Instances of 
this mode of conveyance are still remembered. Sometimes, how- 
ever, a cripple beggar was such only in appearance. The kind- 
ness of farmers and others was presumed upon, and a few able- 
bodied men, unwilling to work, sought to gain a livelihood by 
adopting the role of the maimed and the helpless. A ludicrous 
case of this kind may be given. The would-be cripple had been 
deposited at Refuge Cottage. His next resting place was to be 
Over Glaisnock. In due time he was carried in the direction of 
the farmhouse. The path lay through a field; in the field was a 
bull, which began to show signs of hostility towards the invaders 
of his domain. At his approach the carriers sought their own 
safety, laid down their burden and left the cripple to his fate. 



k. 



Parish Chips. SSI 



Immediately the cripple found his legs, and outstripping his 
helpers put himself beyond the reach of danger. After that, he 
was allowed to carry his own barrow. 

XIL — Colliers. 

The social position of coal workers in the end of the eighteenth 
century was pathetic. They were practically slaves, being bound 
to serve the proprietor of the soil, and were actually sold to the 
new owner with the collieries, whenever these changed hands. In 
such cases it was distinctly stated that they went with the coal. 
If they fled from the district, the laird could bring them forcibly 
back. He could exchange them or lend them. Even if they 
enlisted in the army, he had power to recover them. 

In many parts of the coal-producing districts, ^^ gifted ^ men, 
that is, men who wei-e in the gift of the landlord, wore iron 
collars like a dog^s, rivetted round their neck. A specimen of 
the collar worn is in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinbui^h. 

Very likely the early colliers in the Cumnock pits were sub- 
jected to this degrading treatment At least, there can be no 
doubt that they went with the land, and were recoverable if they 
moved to another part of the country. The law on the point is 
perfectly clear. Cochran-Patrick tells us that ^^ in 1606, it was 
enacted that no person should fee or engage any colliers, coal- 
bearers or salters without a testimonial from their last master, 
showing a reasonable cause for their removing, and if any one 
engaged them without such a certificate, the master from whom 
they deserted could claim them within a year and a day, and 



882 HisTOEY OF Old Cuiixock. 

they had to be given back within 24 hours, under pain of jflOO 
damages. The deserting workers were to be punished as 
thieves." {Records ofMininffj p. xlvii.) 

This slavery, of course, could not continue. The wonder is 
that it remained so long, and that the attempt to remove it 
should have met with opposition from unexpected quarters. For 
it was only in 1799, that an Act of Parliament was passed 
liberating colliers and salters. Against this Act, both the Town 
Council and the Merchants' House of Glasgow petitioned. The 
conditions under which colliers work to-day may be sad enough, 
and some of them in the very nature of the case can never be 
improved, but one can rejoice with the labourers underground 
that the hard and unfeeling laws, imposed upon them by selfish 
landlords, are rel^;ated to the limbo of the past to be recalled 
only with a deep and burning sense of shame. 

XIIL—The Drummer. 

The Drummer was a well-known personage long ago. The 
last who held the ofiice, and of course the best remembered, was 
Drummer Johnson. His memory is still kept up in the name of 
The Drummer*8 Brae^ given to the old lane which runs off 
Tower Street There he had his house. It was his duty to go 
round the town about 5 o^clock in the morning, to rouse the 
inhabitants to their daily work. Boys sometimes thought it 
good fun to accompany him. He did the same in the evening, 
when the day's work stopped. A New Year's donation, for 
which he called at all shops and houses, rewarded him for his 



Parish Chips. 833 



labours during the preceding twelve months, and started him in 
good heart on the work of the next year. Sometimes he had a 
less agreeable duty to perform. He was occasionally employed 
to drum people out of the town. Seemingly, sixty or seventy 
years ago, incorrigible offenders, who disgraced the district and 
would not reform, were marched to the outskirts of the town by 
the baron bailie^s oiBcer, the drummer lending military ^UU to 
the proceedings by beating as loudly as he could. Cases of 
expulsion in which he thus figured are remembered by the old 
residents. 

It was the custom also to ring the parish bell at eight in the 
evening, until the present Established Church was built. It 
intimated the hour of closing to the shopkeepers. But doubtless 
it was a survival of the curfew. 

An old drum, inscribed with the woixls Cumnock Pikemen^ is 
in the possession of Mr. John Moodie of Gratehouse. It was 
purchased for a company of pikemen proposed to be raised in the 
banning of the nineteenth century, at the time of the threatened 
French invasion. Nelsoirs victory at Trafalgar made their drill 
unnecessary. The drum remains to speak of Cumnock's readiness 
to fight the foe. 

JTIV. — Epidemics. 

In 15979 a severe epidemic visited Cumnock^ the tradition of 
which remains to this day. Its exact nature cannot be ascer- 
tained. The story connects it with the name of Knox^s son-in- 
law, John Welsh) minister in Ayr at the time. Two pedlars, 
each with a pack of cloth on his horse, desired admission to the 



834 History of Old Cumkock. 

county town in order to sell their goods. They produced certifi- 
cates from the magistrates of the town from which they had 
come, and which was quite free from infection. The opinion of 
Mr. Welsh was asked. After a little while he told the magis- 
trates that " the plague was in the packs *" of the travellers, and 
advised them on no account to allow them into the town. The 
packmen, having been turned away from Ayr, came to Cumnock, 
where they found a ready market for their goods, which ^' kindled 
such an infection in the place, that the living were hardly able 
to bury the dead.*" {Scots Worthies^ John Welsh.) Many who 
fell before it were buried not in the churchyard, but in that little 
bit of ground looking down on the Glaisnock, which we know by 
the name of the Greenbraehead. 

Smallpox has made its ravages more than once. Mr. Muir, in 
his MS. book, makes it plain that many young people succumbed 
to it during his ministry, and Dr. Miller tells us that in his day 
an aversion to inoculation prevailed, in consequence of which 
smallpox occasionally made havoc among the children. 

Cholera has appeared at intervals in Cumnock during the 
nineteenth century, but it never claimed many victims. Pre- 
cautions were taken to keep the town as clear as possible from 
its grasp. Fumigation by sulphur was the method adopted in 
the case of all who entered Cumnock from infected districts. 
The process was very thorough. A tall, oblong box was placed 
at each of the main entrances to the town. Into this the 
passenger to be fumigated was thrust, while a cloth covering the 
top of the box was tied round his neck. An opening in the roof 
allowed his head to be outside for the sake of respiration. 



Parish Chips. 335 



Thereafter a mixture of sulphur and quicklime was put into the 
bottom of the box and lighted. For the appointed time, the 
fumes enveloped the person of the traveller, whose eyes and 
lungs doubtless suffered from the ordeal. This was the mode of 
procedure during the cholera scare of 1848. After each passen- 
ger on foot or by coach had been subjected to it, he was per- 
mitted to move freely throughout the town. 

XV. — Tombstones. 

In addition to the martyr stones in the churchyard, another 
situated on the north wall calls for notice. It is so weather- 
beaten that the inscription is in part illegible. The words, 
^^ Patrick Hume, minister at Kirkmichael,^ can easily be made 
out. How then did this Dumfriesshire minister come to be buried 
in our parish ? The story is soon told. 

Patrick Hume graduated M.A. in Edinbuigh University in 
1687, and was called to the parish of Kirkmichael, in the Presby- 
tery of Lochmaben, in 1691. He continued minister of Kirk- 
michael till 17S5. Nine years afterwards, he died at Grarrallan, 
in the 68th year of his age. His only daughter, Katharine, 
became the wife of Hugh Douglas of Garrallan. At the time of 
his death, he seems to have been staying with his daughter, and 
naturally in those days, the funeral took place to the Garrallan 
burying ground. The stone marking his grave stood originally 
in the old churchyard, now occupied by the Square, and remained 
there until the new Established Church was built, when it was 
removed for preservation to its present site. Hume was married 



836 HisTOEY OF Old Cuhkocx. 

twice. An interesting relic of his marriage to his second wife^ 
Elizabeth Johnstoun of Poledean, is treasured in Garrallan House 
in the form of a large linen napkin, into the borders of which the 
names of the husband and wife are woven, while the centre is 
devoted to scenes from the life of Joseph. The patriarch^s visions 
of the sheaves and of the sun and moon making obeisance, find a 
place in it. 

A tombstone of a different character may also be mentioned. 
The inscription which it bears, sets forth the qualities of a wife 
as they appeared to her husband after she was taken from him. 
Tradition avers, however, that he did not regard her in this 
beautiful light when she was alive. Be that as it may, the 
inscription runs in this way : — 

Here lies interred Ann Menzies, 

Sfouse of James Johnston, merchant in Cumnock, 

For goodness of heart free of all guile, 

For sincere honesty as a friend. 

For FArrHFUL affection as a wife, 

For preferring domestic happiness and decent economy 

To dissipated profusion, EQUALLED BY FEW, 

Surpassed by none. 

In justice to her worthy character. 

From the constant experience op eleven years. 

This conclusive testimony is inscribed 

By her afflicted husband, as the 

Last pledge of his heartfelt duty 

And most tender regard. 

She died. 

May 2(>rH, 1776, 

Aged 86 years. 



Parish Chips. 837 



XVL — Election Incidents. 

The years preceding the passing of the Reform Bill were full 
of excitement in Cumnock. Voters were few in number, and 
most of them were opposed to the extension of the franchise. 
The weavers were Radical to a man. Chartist principles were 
ayowed on every hand. Candidates for Parliamentary honours 
delivered their speeches from the outside stairs of the old 
Established Church. The people listened in the Square. Some- 
times they did not listen, but subjected the candidate to treatment 
which rendered his words inaudible. 

When the day of election arrived, political feeling rose to its 
greatest height and frequently showed itself in unworthy forms. 
The votes were recoixled in the parish school, which then occupied 
the site of the pi-esent Clydesdale Bank. Those bold enough to 
enter the precincts had to run the gauntlet between two rows of 
unenfiranchised opponents, from whose wrath the efforts of con- 
stables, ordinary and special, failed to preserve them. Offensive 
mud and unsavoury eggs formed the least hurtful part of the 
programme. Voters were jostled from side to side and often 
severely bruised. A more criminal device still was resorted to. 
Some of the bystanders, with their hands to all appearance plac^ 
innocently in their pockets, grasped sharp-pointed instruments 
like a shoemaker^s awl. These were allowed at the wished for 
moment to protrude through the clothes for about half-^n-inch. 
The unfortunate voter was pushed against the sharp point, which 
after having served its purpose was speedily withdrawn and be- 
came invisible. Such conduct was as mean as it was indefensible. 

X 



8S8 HisTOEY OF Old Cumkock. 

Yet it lingered in our midst till the election of 1859, when 
teveral persons who indulged in it, received a just recompense in 
the SherifT Court 

XVIL—FdkUyre. 

It is only to be expected that our parish would furnish instances 
of superstitious belief. Doubtless many illustrations of credulity 
have passed out of mind. One or two still float about, and may 
be given as relics of a day long gone by. 

Fairies were formerly believed in, especially those of the good 
sort named brownies. They helped the farmer to thrash, and 
the dairymaid to chum, so that the com in the morning was 
beaten out of the straw, and the butter ready for table or market. 
Some farms, like Barshare, had the enviable reputation of being 
under the kindly protection of "the little people," who only 
asked, in retum for their labour, a supply of food placed in the 
bam or dairy. An old man, who died a few years ago, remarked 
that his mother not only believed in these good fairies, but had 
even seen them. 

Bad fairies were apt to show their ill-will towards farmhouses. 
In such a case the chum would not produce butter. It was 
therefore evident that it had been bewitched, and would do no 
more good until the charm was removed. This was done by 
taking it to a place where the lands of three lairds met, and 
rinsing it in the stream which flowed past. Such a spot was 
found immediately opposite the gates of Glaisnock House, a little 
more than 100 yards through the fields on the other side of the 



Parish Chips. SS9 



road. There the land of Lord Bute touches the lands of Glais- 
nock and Skerrington. A pool in the stream, which serves as 
the march, was used to dispel the hurtful influence. Stories 
telling of this actually having been done, not more than two 
generations ago, have reached our time. 

The district could also boast of the presence of one or two 
witches, whose evil eye wrought mischief alike on man and 
beast. A so-called witch, in the early part of the nineteenth 
century, was Nannie Reid, whose imcanny power was thoroughly 
believed in. She made cows give little milk, and scones be badly 
mixed or burnt on the girdle. People took care to propitiate 
her by gifts of money or provisions. When well treated she did 
no harm. 

Another form of superstition connected with witches held its 
ground in our neighbourhood. It was believed that sometimes 
they took the form of hares. One day a lad was out shooting. 
He brought down a hare, which immediately stood up on its 
hind 1^ and wagged its fore paws. His companions told him 
that he had shot a witch, and that some calamity would befall 
him. On reaching his home in a state of terror, he was sent off 
to seek the advice of an old woman near at hand. She told him 
to go back to the spot and Are a piece of silver from the gun, 
after which he would be relieved of the bad effect of having shot 
a witch. The farm on which this happened was Lowes, in New 
Cumnock. 

As indicating a curious phase of religious belief this story 
may be given. The old farmer at Shiel, many years ago, was in 
the habit of asking a lengthy blessing before meals. At break- 



d40 HmoET OF Old Cumnock. 

&8t he always sought protection from the assaults of Satan, of 
whose movements he seems to have had an intimate knowledge. 
For this petition was regularly repeated : — ^*^ Deliver us from the 
devil, who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may 
devour. He^s here the noo, next moment he^s in France, in a 
meenit he^s in America, and then back again at the Shiel before 
breakfast time.^' The deep, personal interest of Satan in the 
fisurm of Shiel was evidently rooted in the good man^s mind. 
Still he had a very clear conviction that, however speedy the 
enemy of man could be in his movements, he was not omni- 
present So far his theology was excellent. 

A superstition of a different nature still lingers in the parish. 
Some old people will tell you that the door latch of the house in 
which a sick person lies, will be suddenly lifted and a step heard 
as of some one entering. Yet no one is there. This is regarded 
as a sure indication of the approaching end of the patient It 
b the dead knock or the dead step. A case illustrative of this 
belief happened not long ago. 

XVIII.—The Father of the Cycle. 

The question is often asked at the pi*esent day, when cycling 
is a favourite pastime as well as a most speedy method of 
travelling, " \Vho introduced this mode of locomotion ? ^ A 
good deal has been written in answer to this question. The 
place of honour has been usually given to Gavin Dalzell of 
Lesmahagow, who constmcted and used a bicycle prior to 1846. 
Dalzell's bicycle was exhibited in the Glasgow exhibition of 




Parish Chifs. 841 



1888 as " The first Bicycle.'* Ten years earlier, however, Kirk- 
patrick Macmillan of Closebum anticipated Dalzell. ^^His 
bicycle,^ says an article in the Windsor Magazine for September, 
1897, " was up to that time the only machine which placed the 
feet of the rider clear of the ground, and which could be pro- 
pelled and steered satisfactorily.^ But more than sixty years 
before Macmillan'*s day, there was often seen in Cumnock a cycle, 
which can fairly claim to be the first ever made. It was not 
invented by a Cumnock man, but by a native of the parish of 
Auchinleck. While giving to Auchinleck all the honour con- 
nected with its manufacture, our own town saw it so frequently 
that reference to it is fitting hei*e. 

The maker of it was John Murdoch, the tenant of Bello Mill, 
close to the village of Lugar, and jast a few yards from the 
boundary of Cumnock parish. The fame of John Murdoch has 
been eclipsed by that of his better known son, William, who, 
bom in 1754, was ^^ the first maker of a model locomotive in 
this country, the introducer of lighting by gas, and the inventor 
of many valuable parts of the working steam engine.^ Of Mur- 
doch, the elder, it is said that ^^ he made a wooden horse on 
which he could ride to Cumnock, a distance of two miles, in a 
very short time.^ Young William, who had a hand in making 
it, rode about on it too. The date at which it was first used is 
difficult to determine, but, as William went to England in 1771, 
it must have been earlier than that year. There are persons still 
in Cumnock, whose fathers were accustomed in their boyhood to 
go to Bello Mill and ride Murdoch's horse. 

This oral tradition was put down in print at a birly early 



94S HuTOKT or Old Coumock. 

date. In 1899, a descriptive poem, entitled A Tour in Ayrshire, 
was written by H. Campbell, who thus refers to the inventions 
of the two Murdochs : — 

" And Murdoch (pMt the aothor withoat blune, 
Tb« world ihould koow thy BcientiBc fame,} 
Sprung from > cnrion* decp-aeated tira. 
Who rode a bona do mortal e'er could tire. 
Improved apoD hii predeceaaor'i lawi, 
Aod irrDDg from darkneu bright lefolgent gai." 

Lest there should be any doubt as to the meaning of his words, 
Campbell adds a note (p. 156), in which he says that William 
Murdoch's father, " the honest and scientific proprietor of Bella- 
miln, made a wooden horse on wheeb, on which, by the assist- 
ance of propelling poles, he used to visit Cumnock." 

Now, it is certain that whatever the ** propelling poles " 
exactly may have been, Campbell means to represent Murdoch, 
whose son William was alive at the time Campbell wrote, as 
riding upon his " tireless horse " without touching the ground 
with his feet He propelled the poles, and thereby gave move- 
ment to his machine, juat as the modem cyclist propels his 
machine by acting upon the pedals. Accordingly we may 
fairly claim for Murdoch the proud distinction of being the first 
of whom we know, to use the mechaiiitral contrivance for loco- 
motion, which in a splendidly perfect form is seen in the cycle 
of to-day. It seems hardly too much to say that he is the 
" Father of the Modem Cycle." 



Parish Chips. 84S 



XIX. — Feckless Fannie. 

More than a century and a quarter ago, there was seen occa- 
sionally in our district a lady shepherdess, whose story is at once 
romantic and pathetic. She was accompanied by a small flock 
of sheep, which displayed towards her a remarkable degree of 
affection. People spoke of her as Feckless Fannie, She wan- 
dered a good deal through Ajrrshire, and had her favourite 
resting places in the open air, where she stayed overnight with 
her dumb friends. Fannie was the only daughter of a wealthy 
squire in the north of England. Having fallen in love with her 
father^s shepherd, she incurred the anger of the squire, who in 
his passion shot her lover with a pistol. Ere he breathed his 
last, the shepherd bequeathed to her all he had, but she only 
accepted his hat, his crook and his plaid, along with a few sheep, 
and with these she proceeded to move about from place to place. 
By the shock she received, her mind became unhinged, and she 
would not be persuaded to return to her firiends, or to avail her- 
self of the shelter of a home during her wanderings. 

The story of Fannie attracted the attention of Sir Walter 
Scott, who in his notes to The Heart of Midlothian confesses 
that his first conception of the character of Madge Wildfire, 
though afterwards greatly altered, was taken from this squire^s 
daughter. All that is known of her, during the eight years she 
wandered in Ajrrshire and Galloway, is to be found at length 
appended to Scott's well-known story. 

Tradition fixes on one field in our neighbourhood, where 



S44 HisTOEY OF Old Cumnoci. 

Fannie was accustomed to spend the night with her sheep. It is 
on the farm of Boreland. 

XX.— Old Parochial Regkters. 



a 



The register of baptisms begins in 1704. There are blanks 
in it from 1706 to 17J4, from 1739 to 1740, from 1746 to 1761, 
and from 1758 to 1753. 

^ The baptisms only are recorded up to the year 1768. After 
this period the births also are, for the most part, entered along 
with them. A few only of the Dissenters register their children. 
The register of proclamations for marriage b^ns in 1758 ; but 
up to the year 1782, no notice is taken of the marriages. Sub- 
sequent to this period, the date of the marriage is also entered. 
No register of deaths is kept^ So wrote Mr. Bannatyne in 1887 
in the Neto Statistical Account. The documents referred to, now 
find a place in the Register House, Edinburgh. 

The population of the parish in 1755 was 1336 persons. 

1765 „ 1305 „ 

„ 1792 ,. 1632 „ 

1821 „ 2343 „ 

» „ 1831 „ 2763 „ 

1841 „ 2836 „ 
1851 „ 3777 „ 
1861 „ 3721 „ 
1871 „ 4041 „ 
1881 „ 4861 „ 
1891 „ 4712 „ 



% 



Parish Chips. 845 



XXL— Peculiar Fm-CharterB. 

One or two of the old feu-charters have embodied in them 
certain peculicur conditions, on the fulfilment of which alone, the 
superior can claim the duty. In Cooper^s Close, for instance, 
there is ground held on the condition of the annual payment of 
one penny Scots, but it is part of the bargain that the landlord 
shall come for it in a coach and six. In other cases a small 
nominal fee is to be laid on the window-sill of the house at the 
appointed term, to be uplifted by the landlord or his agent. It 
is needless to say that payment is never exacted. Such tenures 
in l^al phraseology are called ^^ blench holdings.*" 

XXIL—The BeU Tree. 

For a number of years the bell tree was a familiar object in 
the town. When the old Established Church was taken down, 
the bell was removed and hung on an aged tree in the Strand, 
where it was regularly rung on Sabbaths and on other occasions. 
As a new bell was provided for the new church, the old one was 
no longer required. It continued, however, in its airy position, 
until the tree became too frail to bear its unusual burden. On 
the erection of the present school, an appropriate place was pre- 
pared for it, and now it regularly calls the children of the town 
to their lessons. The tree itself was condemned as dangerous 
and taken away. 

To the minds of many dwellers in Cumnock, the mention of 



346 HuTOEY OF Old Cumnock. 

the old bell will recall memories of the bellman, Hugh M^Lellan, 
who must be regarded as one of the interesting figures of the 
town in recent times. Many stories are told about him which 
reveal genuine mother-wit. Their comic element was greatly 
increased by a persistent stammer in his speech. 

For some reason the belfry in the present Established Church 
was long in being completed. Alterations were frequently made 
upon it, and portions added, before it was ready for its proper 
purpose. Hugh caustically remarked about these changes and 
delays, " They'*re p-p-pitting it up in p-penny numbers.'^ 

On one occasion, as he was ringing the bell while it hung on 
the old tree, the heavy tongue of the bell fell down and narrowly 
missed his head. On recovering from his fright, he quietly said, 
" Fve rung ye lang, m-m-my wumman, b-but this is the first 
t-t-time yeVe ever p-p-pit oot your t-tongue at me.^ 

XXIII.—The Flood of 1898. 

On the morning of Snd December, 1898, a disastrous flood 
visited Cumnock. In little more than half-an-hour, the Lugar 
and the Glaisnock rose eight feet above their ordinary leveL 
The low-lying parts of the town were speedily inundated, the 
rooms in some cases having more than three feet of water in 
them. Wooden bridges were carried away at various points, 
while much damage was done to goods and property. Fortunately 
no lives were lost. Had the flood taken place during the night, 
many persons would, in all probability, have been swept away by 




Parish Chips. 847 



the vast volume of water, which rushed past the doors of the 
houses. 

No simflar occurrence has happened within living memory. 
To find a parallel case we need, perhaps, to go back to the year 
1775, when a flood on the Lugar deposited sand on the site of 
the first Secession Church. 



XXIY.—The Knights Templars. 

The Knights Templars seem to have held property in Cum- 
nock, as the phrase Temple Lands (terrae templariae) occurs in 
old records. No trace of them, however, is now to be found in 
our parish, though Temple and Templand are to be met with in 
Auchinleck. 



HuTOET or Old Cummock. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CumnocJc of To-day. 



Sp«ak of me u I ftm ; nothing uteuoftte 
Nor Mt down anglit in nudjce. 



The changes that have come over the town of Cumnock during 
the last fifty yean are very great. Improvements are to be seen 
on every hand. To those who remember the old-fashioned village 
half a centuiy ago, the place hardly looks the same. There has 
been wonderful growth in the size of the town. Within a much 
shorter period than has been mentioned, many new houses have 
been erected along the roads that lead out of Cumnock. With 
the exception of old buildings like those in the Spout Bow and 
the I'ottcry Bow (formerly called the New Row), the town long 
ago was practically made up of tlic Square, with the Townhead 
Street running in one direction and the Townfoot in the other. 
Now it stretches itself out in four other directions. According 
to the latest returns, there are 708 inhabited houses in the burgh, 
with an estimated population of 3,450. In 1831 the population 
of the town numbered only 1600. Within a period therefore of 
■ix^-seven yean, the town has increased in population 108 per 
oaA. £a the Iindwaid part of the parish there are about 14<60 
persons, making a total estimated population of 4900 in the 
parish at the present time. 




CuMKocK OF To-Day. 849 

Great improvement has also taken place in the character of 
the buildings erected. Not to speak of the comfortable viUas 
and cottages built away from the business part of the town, 
Glaisnock Street and the Square have been almost completely 
re-modelled. The old tenements, with their low doors and 
picturesque thatch roofs, have disappeared, and their place has 
been taken by large and substantial buildings. Every class of 
shop has multiplied three or four times over. 

Up till 1866, the streets were in utter darkness after sunset. 
Not even an oil lamp threw out its feeble, yellow light. Though 
the Gas Company was founded in 1837, and undertook to supply 
gas to householders, it was not till 1866 that steps were taken 
to light the public streets. Up to the same time, too, all the 
water required for domestic purposes, in addition to rain water, 
was obtained at the pumps in the street That supply, never 
very sufficient, threatened to run short through the drainage 
caused by the pits underneath the town. Accordingly, it was 
needful to provide a new supply from another source. After due 
consideration, it was agreed to form a reservoir on the farm of 
Boreland Smithy, at a height of S87 feet above the level of the 
Square. Filters were made a little lower down. The cost of 
carrying out this scheme was over ,£^2400. On the 11th 
January, 1869, the townspeople were informed that they could 
take the water into their houses. The boon thus conferred upon 
the community has proved incalculable. The assessment per 
annmn for the use of water has varied. It has been as high as 
8d. per £ of rental, and as low as 5d. For the present year it 
is 6d« 



850 HisTOKY OF Old Cumkock. 

Various results have followed the introduction of a plentiful 
supply of water. In 1875, provision was made against fire by 
the insertion of fire plugs on the main pipes, and the purchase 
of a fire hose. A fire brigade was also organized, which lan- 
guished, however, partly from lack of cohesion and partly, and 
very fortunately as well, from lack of employment In 1896, it 
was set on a proper footing, and each of its members insured by 
the town for ,^250. 

These beneficial changes could not have been brought about, 
unless there had been some representative authority acting in the 
name of the town and watching over its welfare. Accordingly 
we may say that they have been the direct result of the erection 
of Cumnock into a burgh. That took place in 1866. Opinion 
is universal now that the step was a good one, by which our town 
determined to avail itself of the powers and privileges of the 
Police Act of 1862. Yet considerable uncertainty prevailed at 
the time, and a good deal of opposition to the adoption of the 
Act was shown. At the meeting held for the purpose on the 
5th November, 1866, only 67 persons voted. Of these 35 
supported the adoption of the Burgh Act, and 32 expressed dis- 
approval. The majority was small, but it was sufficient. Appli- 
cation was made at once to the Sheriff, who had no difficulty in 
declaring Cumnock to be a populous place in terms of the Act, 
and authorised the election of nine Commissioners, of whom one 
was to be called the Senior Police Magistrate or Provost, and 
two were to be Junior Police Magistrates or Bailies. The 
remaining six were to be ordinary Commissioners. 

The election of these representatives was immediately pro- 




Cumnock of To-Day. 861 



ceeded with, and the first meeting of the Police Commissioners 
of Cumnock was held on the 10th December, 1866. The fiill 
title given to the new Burgh was The Burgh of Cumnock and 
Holniheadj the name Holmhead indicating that the part of the 
parish of Auchinleck, close to the town, and known as Holm- 
head, was joined to Cumnock for municipal purposes. It was 
this portion of Auchinleck which, in 1896, was joined to Cum- 
nock for parochial purposes as well. 

In October, 1869, the Commissioners agreed to establish a 
Court for the trial of offenders within the burgh. This Court 
has been regularly maintained since then. It meets as occasion 
requires, under the presidency of one of the magistrates. In 
1880, the question of providing a Town Hall was raised, but the 
matter did not take shape till 1883, when Lord Bute gave a free 
site and <£^600 towards the erection of a suitable hall. Subscrip- 
tions were given by the people of the town and by friends 
outside, with the result that the large and handsome hall in 
Glaisnock Street, with its suite of smaller rooms, was opened on 
the 7th June, 1886, by a concert, over which Lord Bute pre- 
sided. Few provincial towns can lay claim to the possession of 
a finer building for public purposes. It cost nearly ^£^3000. A 
debt of «£760, which rested on it at the time of its opening, and 
which gradually increased to «jP1000, was swept away in 1896 by 
means of a bazaar. 

Since its institution as a burgh, Cumnock has enjoyed the 
services of seven different Provosts. The term of office is three 
years. The names of the Provosts, with their dates of office 
down to the present time, are as follows : — 






85S HmoET OF Old Cumkock. 

William Dalgleish, - - 1866-1869. 

1869-1872. 

1878-1876. 

„ „ - . 1876-1878. 

John McCowan, - - - 1878-1881. 
George T. Samson, - - 1881-1884. 

„ „ - - 1884-1887. 

William McLetchie, - - 1887-1890. 
John Bannatyne, ... 1890-189S. 

Thomas Hunter, - - - 1898-1896. 
James Richmond, . - - 1896- 

The civic reign of all these gentlemen has been characterized by 
much excellent work, for which the town can only express deep 
gratitude. Some of them stand out conspicuously as associated 
with great improvements in the burgh. Thus Mr. Dalgleish^s 
name will always be connected with the introduction of gas into 
the public streets, and also of the present water supply; Mr. 
Samson^s with the erection of the Town Hall ; and Mr. Hunter^s 
with the extinction of the debt with which the hall was burdened. 
Other improvements; which would greatly enhance the amenity 
of Cumnock, await the advent of a Provost, who has the courage 
and the ability, along with his fellow officials, to carry them out. 
Chief among these improvements is the thorough and efficient 
sanitary drainage of the town. This may even be called a neces- 
sity. The hot months of summer prove it to be so. The time 
for dealing with the question has fully come. The Provost who, 
supported by the popular vote, or pressed by the Public Health 



Cumnock of To-Day. 868 



Authorities, takes up this problem and solves it in a satisfactory 
way, will achieve even a more lasting title to honour than any of 
his predecessors. The expense certainly would be heavy, but the 
benefit conferred would be cheap at any price. 

Improvements of a smaller kind might also be suggested, such 
as the provision of seats along the country roads, a work in which 
the Parish Council could well associate itself with the town 
authorities. Additional trees planted at intervals on the public 
streets, and even in the Square, would lend new beauty to the 
town. The drinking fountain, erected in the Square in memory 
of the Queen^s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, provides a free supply 
of water to quench the thirst of the busy worker and of the 
stranger far from home. But no drinking trough for horses is 
to be found within the limits of the burgh, or immediately out- 
side of them. Our beasts of burden might well have this want 
supplied. 

A new feature was added to the social life of the town by the 
opening, in 1891, of the Baird Institute, in Lugar Street, by the 
trustees of the late John Baird, in accordance with his will. It 
is a striking edi6ce, and embraces a reading room, well supplied 
with newspapers and magazines, a small museum of ciurios 
collected by Mr. Baird, a recreation room, and a billiard room. 
The institute,, for membership in which a small annual fee 
qualifies, is largely patronised, especially during the winter 
months. A much older institution is the Athenaeum Library, 
whose treasures are deposited in the Town Hall, and laid at the 
disposal of the public on payment of a trifling charge. 

Of facilities for healthy recreation there is so great a supply in 



854 HisTOftY or Old Cumnock. 

the town tliat, if mere recreation could elevate a communitj in 
the tnieiit ticwnc^ Cumnock ought almost before now to have 
n*ache(l the height of perfection. Our splendid bowling greens 
take a leading place in Ayrshire, while our spacious tennis courts 
aflbrd ample scope for all who glory in the racket and the balL 
More rec(*ntly a golf club has been formed, with a short course 
over {larks ({uite close to the town. Near at hand, too, football 
in provided for its devotees. Winter with its frost draws en- 
thusiastic curlers to Woodhcad, where the roaring game pro- 
ceeds fn>m early mom, till darkness drops its curtain on well- 
playcd stone and busy broom. Skaters exhibit the outside edge 
and cut many curious figures on the same sheet of ice, while, 
nearer home, the I'lush attracts the younger portion of the com- 
munity. 

Recreation of a different kind, with the possibility of a sterner 
purpose in view, is afforded to others in the drill and rifle shoot- 
ing provided by the auxiliary military services of the Crown. 
Tlie E Company of the 2nd V.B. Iloyal Scots Fusiliers has its 
hcmlcjuartoi-s in Cumn(K*k, as well as the C troop of the Ayrshire 
Yeomanry (IJavalry (Earl of Carrick^s Own). The targets, where 
rifle practice is can-led on, are at the Bank. 

Two societies |)ay homage to St. Cecilia — the Choral Union and 
the Cumnock Orchestra. A I^iterary Society affords in winter 
opportunity to its members of accjuiring fcwiility in correct 
writing and fluent speaking. The love of flowers, which the 
gardens of the town so beautifully betray, finds special expres- 
sion in September in the annual exhibition of the Horticultural 
Society. The Agricultural Association, appealing more directly 



Cumnock of To-Day. 865 



to the farmei's of the district, holds its cattle show early in April. 
Thrift makes its claims upon the commmiity through no fewer 
than six different societies. The Foi-esters, Free Gardeners, 
Freemasons, Oddfellows, Rechabites, and Shepherds have all set 
up a court, a lodge, or a tent in our midst, and endeavour with 
generous rivalry to lengthen their borders and strengthen their 
stakes. A Total Abstinence Society, with a prolonged history, 
patiently bears witness against the great evil of intemperance. 

In addition to the Burgh Court presided over by the Magis- 
trates, law and order are represented by a Justice of the Peace 
Court, held on the first Monday of every month, for our own 
parish and for New Cumnock, Mauchline, Som, Muirkirk, 
Auchinleck, and Ochiltree. For the same district four times a 
year a Sheriff Court is held, presided over by the Sheriff-Substi- 
tute of Ayrshire. A Superintendent of Police and a staff of 
constables protect our persons and our property from harm. 
The Parish Council, which came into existence in 1895, is 
charged with the care of the poor and with other duties con- 
nected with the well-being of the community. It consists of 
fourteen members, nine of whom represent the burgh, and five 
the landward portion of the parish. A Cottage Hospital for 
accident cases, built on the Barrhill Road in 1882, is maintained 
by Lady Bute. Three banks, with handsome premises, the Bank 
of Scotland, the Royal, and the Clydesdale, offer financial 
facilities to the people. 

On application to the Sheriff in 1876, power was granted to 
secure a new cemetery on the outskirts of the town. The site 
chosen was a field on the Glaisnock Road, immediately beyond 



356 History of Old Cumnock. 



the line of the Ayr and Cumnock Railway. The old churchyard 
on the Barrhill Road, which has been used for fully one hundred 
and forty years, is gradually being closed. The number of 
memorial stones in the new cemetery are a striking proof of the 
ceaseless harvest reaped by death. 

Two local newspapers appear week by week. The Cumnock 
EorpresSy published in Ayr, upholds the interests of the Con- 
servative party, while the principles of Liberalism are expounded 
by The Cumnock News^ printed in Ardrossan. Both papers 
devote a large space to the news of the town and neighbourhood. 

Fifty years ago all public communication with the outside 
world was by coach. As Cumnock lay on the great main road 
from the West of Scotland to England, a coach passed each way 
every day between Glasgow and Carlisle. Two local coaches left 
the town daily. The Independent carried passengers to Ayr, 
while The Lass of BaUochmyle ran to Kilmarnock. Now we have 
our two lines of railway with a station at each end of the town, 
giving opportunities for speedy travelling never dreamt of by our 
more leisurely grandfathers. 

Certain industries carried on at present deserve to be noticed. 
The oldest business of any kind in the neighbourhood is the 
spinning and woollen factory known as Lugar Mills, and founded 
so long ago as 1718. Dyeing also is prosecuted in the same 
premises. A much later establishment of a similar kind is the 
Greenholm factory. Two engineering firms turn out thrashing 
mills, water wheels, cheese presses and chums. Our local pottery 
maintains its reputation through the special brown ware, which 
it sends out under the name of Cunmock pottery, and also 



i 



Cumnock of To-Day. 867 



through its glazed flowerpots. Besides a factory for jams and 
confections, there is one for the production of aerated waters. 
A small coachwork also exists. These industries employ a fair 
proportion of the labour power of the community, and contribute 
to the commercial prosperity of the burgh. 

In the landward portion of the parish, agricultui'e receives its 
due share of attention. The farms are largely pastoral. One 
hardly ever sees a field of wheat or barley. Practically the only 
gi'ain crop is oats, which farmers raise chiefly for their own use. 
Root crops are grown almost wholly for consumption on the 
farm. Grass parks for pasture and hay are the featiure of the 
parish. Dairy farms more or less extensive everywhere abound, 
with 15 to 80 milk cows in each. Cheese of an excellent quality 
is produced. A few farmers send milk by train every morning 
to Kilmarnock or Glasgow, railway facilities of a favourable 
nature being provided for the purpose. 

The system prevails to a small extent still, by which a farmer 
sublets a poiiion of his ground with suitable premises attached, 
and undertakes to supply his tenant with milk cows at so much 
per head. He thus lets not only the parks, but the cattle as well. 
The price for each cow per year is £9 or ,f 10. According to the 
bargain made, the farmer may also supply a quantity of turnips 
and meal for feeding. The tenant, who enters into this arrange- 
ment, is called a '^ bower,*" a name which has the same origin and 
pronunciation as the Dutch word '*Boer.^ The farm taken 
under such conditions is known as a " bowing.*" The practice, 
however, of taking a bowing is not so common now as formerly. 

The only mill in the parish is at Boreland It is both for 



858 History of Old CuifNocK. 



meal and wood. In 1837, there were three com mills and one 
wheat mill. In olden days, too, there was a walk mill at Logan, 
on the banks of the Lugar, and another at the foot of Donaldson 
Braes, on the Glaisnock. 

llie district abounds in minerals, the royalties on which bring 
the Marquis of Bute a large annual revenue. Coal has been 
freely worked for more than ISO years. Dr. Miller tells us in 
1798 that one coal mine had been in operation for more than 
thirty years. He puts the number of colliers in the parish at 
eighteen. The number of coalpits now wrought in the parish is 
four. The output of coal for the year ending 81st May, 1898, 
was 141,000 tons. The average number of workers in connec- 
tion with these pits is 350 below ground and 60 above ground. 
Ironstone was likewise worked to a considerable extent within 
the limits of the parish, but the pits have all been wrought out. 
Practically the whole of Cumnock is undermined by the woric- 
ings, a fact to which the falling of ceilings, the jamming of 
doors, and occasionally the cracking of walls bear sufficient 
testimony. A number of pit-workers live in the town, but 
miners^ cottages at Glengyron, Garrallan, and Skares provide 
accommodation for them, in fair proximity to their work. The 
pits in Auchinleck parish have also a good many workers who 
live in Cumnock. 

Stone is not quarried to any extent in the parish now. A 
famous quarry with a splendid white sandstone was worked for 
many years at the back of the Mote hill. The quarry became 
exhausted more than a quarter of a centiuy ago. Most of the 
houses and public buildings erected recently, are of red stone 



I 



Cumnock op To-Day. 869 



from the extensive quarries at Ballochmyle, close to Mauchline. 
Sometimes a stone of a pink hue, found near the village of 
Auchinleck, is employed. But the Ballochmjle stone is at 
present the favomrite. The Public School, the Town Hall, the 
Congregational Church, and the new Free Church are all built 
of it. 

No institution has grown to such large dimensions in Cumnock 
as the Post Office, which had its day of small things when letters 
were delivered throughout the parish, under the superintendence 
first of the schoolmaster and then of a postmaster, who had a 
business of his own to carry on as well. Now the Post Office has 
reached its day of great things, with its six indoor officials and 
its eight post-runners. No record can be given of the number 
of missives which fell to be delivered fifty years ago, but one 
letter-carrier was able to overtake the whole work. According 
to the returns for the year 1897, there were received for deliveiy 
in the town and district : — 

181,116 letters, 

89,856 book packets, 

24,596 newspapers, 

10,086 parcels, 

57,252 postcards, 
4,278 telegrams. 



making a total of 867,184 documents distributed from house to 
house, while there were handed in to the Post Office for despatch, 

205,660 letters, 
84,528 book packets, 



S60 HitTOET OF Old Cumiiock. 

Sd,400 newspapers, 
4,264 parcels, 

54,756 postcards, 
4,S5S telegrams, 



making a total of 3S6,961 documents dealt with and despatched. 
In addition, 19,293 telegrams were received in Cunmock for 
transmission to other places, and as these messages have to be 
taken off the wires and forwarded anew, some idea will be gained 
of the importance of our Post Office as a centre, and of the 
amount of work to be done by those in charge. 

During the last five years the average number of persona in 
receipt of parochial relief has been 71, being about one recipient 
for every 67 individuals in the parish. The sum allowed to each, 
per week, varies from 2s. to 6s. ; the average grant is 8s. Tlie 
assessment for the poor in 1898 was 8 Jd. per £ of rental, paid in 
equal shares by proprietors and occupiers. The total receipts 
for the same year amounted to cf 1003 8s. The expenditure was 
.f994 7s. 6d. That sum, therefore, represents the burden im- 
posed by law upon the parish, in relation to those who are unable 
to maintain themselves. Much charity is likewise given privately, 
as well as through the different congregations in the town. 

llie gross rental of the parish in 1898 was ^7,474 8s. Sixty 
years before, it was about dP8000. Within that period, therefore, 
the value of the parish has increased more than threefold- 
Enough has now been said to show that Cumnock has made 
great progress in many different ways. Much rebuilding has 
taken place. The large amount of new building which made its 



Cumnock of To-Day. 861 



appearance twenty-five years ago, testified at once to the pros- 
perity and the enterprise of the inhabitants. Since then, however, 
the erection of new houses has in large measure ceased, and as a 
result Cumnock no longer grows. There cannot be any doubt, 
that this cessation in the expansion of Cumnock has been owing 
to the difficulty experienced in obtaining sites on favourable 
terms from the feudal superior, to whom practically the whole of 
the soil on which the town is built belongs. It has been the 
custom of Lord Bute and his predecessors to grant ground for 
building purposes, only on a lease of 99 years. No grievance 
would be felt on this matter, if compensation for the property 
built were given at the time it passed to the Marquis. But by 
the conditions on which the lease is given, not only does the shop 
or house fall into the hands of the feudal superior at the end of 
the 99 years, but it is to be surrendered in good, habitable order. 
A considerable amount of property, of the annual value of more 
than <fl40, has already been handed over to Lord Bute, in 
accordance with this agreement. A great deal more will fall to 
him during the next S5 or 80 years, while almost all the new 
villas and cottages which have been built in recent times, will pass 
to his heirs on the expiry of the allotted term. It is estimated 
that there are 120 different properties in Cumnock just now held 
on this tenure. These represent an annual value in rent of over 
jP8000. At fourteen years'" purchase they are worth ^^42,000. 
In due course they must all be delivered up, without a single 
penny of compensation. 

Let the matter be put definitely for the sake of illustration. 
A man builds a dwelling-house on ground for which he pays the 



96S Hbr»t or Old CmoioaL 



stipulated doty. The kooK costs, kt us sappoee, :iP400. He 
and his socceaB o is keep it till the first day of the hundredth year 
after the lease was granted. That Tenr morning it bdongs to 
them no longer, though they paid fin' exeiy stone of it. The 
feudal superior steps in, takes it OTcr fixxn them ^in good, 
tenantaUe and suflBcient repair,^ and diaiges them for remaining 
iu it something like jP18 or JP20 a year. Such a procedure to be 
enacted as the years roll on, in the case o( the ISO properties 
held on these conditions, abundantly proves the litend truth of 
aclause which appears in a certain ^ tack."*" For it is there said 
that this ^ ground is let for the special purpose of building a 
house or houses thereupon, for the benefit and improvement of 
the said Marquis of Bute^s estate.^ 

It is this condition, then, imposed upon aU who seek to build 
new properties, that has kept back the growth of Cumnock and 
retarded its prosperity in recent years. Business of every des- 
cription would have greatly increased, if facilities for building 
houses, workshops, and factories had been more reasonable. It 
is not for the historian to enlarge on the moral aspect of the 
question. Hard as they may seem, the terms, on which alone 
the lord superior has been willing to grant ground, were agreed 
to by those who took it. Of course, they could not get it on 
any other condition, and the case could be argued from that 
point of view. But the fact remains that the purchasers of the 
ground entered into the bargain, and, however onesided it may 
be, the bargain must be fiilfiUed. No court of law would inter- 
fere with the action of Lord Bute. L^ally his position is 
unassailable. 



I 




Cumnock of To-Day. 868 



In 1898 permission was given to feu the glebe. On the 
Auchinleck estate, in the immediate vicinity of the town, leases 
of 999 years may be secured, but the sites to be obtained are not 
so suitable as those on the ground of the Marquis. Is it too 
much to hope that the noble Lord will yet listen to the prayer 
of the people of Ciminock, and in the exercise of a gracious 
power, remove the restrictions which have interfered so long with 
the growth and prosperity of our town ? 




INDEX. 



Adamaon, Rev. John, a disorderly 

preacher, 103. 
Antiquities, 14-17. 
Aucbinleck, 3, 4, 9» 14, 25, 35, 55, 84, 

97, 136, 171. 

Bagimond's Roll, 63*65. 

Baird Institute, 194, 353. 

Balfour, Rev. Dr., of Som, 129. 

Ballocbmyle Qnarry, 359. 

Bank, The, 9, 13. 

Bannatyne, Rev. Ninian, 10, 11, 69, 

I3M34, 202, 209, 217, 271, 235. 

317.344. 
Baptismal Customs, 210, 311. 
Barbour's Bruce, 57. 59. 
Barons, power of, 43. 
Bass Rock, the, 168. 
Beggars, 329-331. 
BeUo Path, 176, 184, 195. 
Bell Tree, 345. 
Beltane, 214. 

Black Agnes of Dunbar, 29-31. 
Black Iioch, 10. 
Black Rock, 56. 
Blackie, Professor J. S., 175. 
Blench Holdings, 345. 
Blind Harry, <S. 
Blue Tower, the, 176. 
Body-snatching, 227. 
Bonshaw, 161. 
Boreland Castle, 8, 23, 187. 
Boswells of Auchinleck, the, 35, 171. 
Boswell, Sir Alexander, 242, 289. 
Bothwell Bridge, battle of, 180. 
Bower, 357. 
Boxmaking, 240-251. 
Bridges, 322. 

Broose, ridingthe, 309-311. 
Brown, Rev. Dr. James, 147, 298-300. 
Brown, Rev. Robert, 147. 



Brownies, 338. 

Bruce, Robert, 28, 31, 57-61. 

Buchanites, the, 2S5. 

Building Leases, 361-363. 

Burgess Oath, 138. 

Burgh, creation of, 350. 

Burgh Court, 351. 

Burns, Robert, 160, 231-239, 291. 

Bute, Lady, 355. 

Bute, Lord, 14, 19, 22, 23, 33, 42, 154, 

302, 307, 351, 358, 361-363. 
Bute, the late Lord, 42, 132, 307, 322. 

Caimscadden, 5, 18. . 
Cambuslauff Revival, 108, 117. 
Cameron, Rev. Richard, 174, 191-193. 
Cameronians, the, 99, 172. 
Campbell, Rev. George, 85. 
Campbell, Rev. Robert, 157. 
Cemetery, new, 355. 
Chapel-house, 69. 
Chess-playing, 277. 
ChesUng, 312. 
Charter, royal, 51-54. 
Choir, vicars of the, 67. 
Cholera, 334. 

Church, earliest reference to, 65. 
Church discipline, 199-204. 
Church, munier in, 34. 
Church, patronage of, 65. 
Church services, 204-213. 
Churchyard, 224-228. 
Claverhouse, 185-187. 
Coal, output of, 358. 
CoUiers, 261, 331, 358. 
Coldsideheads, 302. 
Communion Tokens, 210. 
Congregational Church, the, 152-154. 
Cope, Sir John, 114. 
Corsegellioch, 165, 178, 194, 195. 
Covenanting Banners, etc., 193-195. 



SG6 



Index. 



Coyenant, National, 91, 92. 

Cofenant of Hoaseholdera, 314-316. 

Creichton, Captain John, 184. 

Crichton of Abercrombie, 39, 95, 90. 

Cricbton Peel, 40, 41. 

Criobton, Rev. Dr. Hugh, 155, 295. 

Cricbton, Sberiff James A^ 134, 297. 

Cromlech, v. Dolmen. 

Cabe' Gleu, 13, 56. 

Cnmnock CatUe, 27, 38, 56, 60, 61, 

1S6, 187. 
Cnmnock, meanins of, 5-7. 
Cunningham, Profesior Alexander, 96, 

274-279, 281. 
Cnnninffham, Rev. James, 90. 
Conyn^ame, Rev. John, 39, 95, 281. 
Conjrnghame of Caprintoon, 38, 39, 48, 

50. 
Cyde, the first, 340-342. 

Dead Knock, 340, 

Dettingen Wood, 12. 

Dickie, Rev. Matthew, 149-151. 

Dolmen, 15. 

Dogs drawing carts, 308. 

Dovecot, 328. 

Dress in olden times, 323. • 

Drinking customs at funerals, 314. 

Druids, the, 15-17. 

Drumciog, battle of, 193. 

Drummer, the, 332. 

Drummond, Rev. George, 295-297. 

Dumfries House, 13, 19. 21, 310, 322. 

Dumfries, Countess of, 256. 

Dumfries, Earis of, 1, 20, 23, 39, 41, 
93, 96, 97, 124, 139, 169, 171, 182, 
184, 219, 228, 289, 303, 327. 

Don, Daviil, 16,3167. 

Dunbars of Cumnock, .32-38. 

Dunbars of Mochrum, 33, 39. 

Dunbars of Westfield, 32, 33, 37. 

Dunbar, Bishop of Glaagow, 21, 39. 

Dunbar, Bishop Gavin, of Aberdeen, 
.38. 

Dunbar, Rev. George, 88-90. 

Dunbar, Kev. John, 81-8.3. 

Education, 263-273. 
Edward I., 26, 27. 56, 60. 
Mward II., 28, 31, 60. 
Edward III., 61. 
Election incidents, 337. 



Epidemics, 333-335. 

Erskine, Rev. Ralph, 111, 143. 

EsUbUshed Church (old), building o^ 

223. 
Established Church (new), buildiog of, 

223 
Ettrick Shepherd, the, 165. 

Fair Maid of Cunmook, 13. 

Fairies, 338. 

Fairs, 52, 304-309. 

Fast Days, 206. 

FtckUsi Fannie, 34.3. 

Feu-Charters, peculiar, 845. 

Flodden, battle of, 35. 

Floods, 140, 346. 

Folklore, 338-340. 

Food in olden timet, 323. 

Food, price of, 325. 

Fordyce, Rev. Francis, 98-100. 

Frazer, Rev. John, 127-131, 206. 

Free Church, 132-135. 

Free Church School, 268. 

French Invasion, ITS, 

French. John, 288 290. 

Funeral customs, 312-317. 

Gallows Knowe, 35, 44, 161, 163, 167, 

171. 
Gas Company, 349. 
George it, 12. 
Gillespie. Rev. Thomas, 111. 
Glaisuock, the, 4, 10. 
Glaisnock Glen, 13. 
Glebe altered, 226. 
Gow, Neil, 289. 
Grant, Rev. P. W., 162. 

Halbert Rev. John, 188, 190, 191. 
Halkeid, Rev. John, 39, 95. 
Hall, Rev. James, 140-142, 2.32. 
Hallow Chapel, v. Chapel- house. 
Hammiltoun, Rev. VViiliam, 86-88. 
Henderson, Alexander, 93. 
Hepburn of Urr, 106, 137. 
Heritors, list of, 222. 
Highest point in parish, 4. 
Home's Tragedy of Dougltu, 107. 
Holmhead, 3, 351. 
Hospital, 355. 

Houston, Rev. David, 175-178, 195. 
Howie of Lochgoin, 160, 170. 



Index. 



867 



Home, Key. Patrick, 335. 
HnmiUation, (|aY8 of, 116. 
Hntton, Bey. Wiiliam, 161. 



in con- 



Infirmary, Glasgow, privilege i 

nection with, 217. 
IndoBtries, past, 240 262. 
Indoatries, present, 356-359. 



Johnson, Rev. Dr. James S., 156. 

Jongs, the, 223. 

Jasuce of Peace Court, 355. 

Kennedy, Bev. Alexander, 155. 
Kennedy, John, 235. 
Ker of Kersland, 172. 
Kilpatrick, Rev. Hugh, 100-101. 
Kims, 288, 328. 
Knights Templars, 347. 
Knox, John, 21, 39, 85, 264. 
Kyle Castle, 9. 

Lawson, Rev. Dr., 143, 147. 
Lefnoreis Castle, 8, 19, 41, 49. 
Lefnoreis, Cranfnrds of, 19-21. 
Leitoh, William L., 247-249. 
Logan, Rev. Allan, 155, 280 281. 
Logan, Rev. George, 155, 281-284. 
Logan, Hugh, 227, (284).288. 
Logan, WiUiam, 279. 
Lora's Sapper, celebration of, 105, 205, 

208-210. 
Lagar, the, 4, 9, 44, 140. 

March, Earls of, 26-32, 65. 
Market Cross, 52, 301-304. 
Markets, 49, 52, 301, 305. 
Marriage Customs, 140, 211, 309. 
Marrow of Modem Divinity , 280. 
Miller, Patrick, of Dalswinton, 290. 
Miller, Rev. Dr. Thomas, 69, 122-127, 

226. 316. 
Miller, Rear-Admiral Thomas, 127. 
Mitchell, Rev. Dr. Andrew, 237. 
Mochmm, 33, 39. 
Mote Hill, 9, 44, 358. 
Murdoch, John, 341. 
Murdoch, William, 341. 
Muir, Rev. George, 108 122, 202, 206, 

214, 223, 334. 
Murray, Rev. James, 135, 163, 174, 253. 
Muslin Flowering, 257. * 



Macdowall, Patrick, of Freugh, 41, 327. 
Macnee, Sir Daniel, 245-247. 
M*Cartney, George, 293-295. 
M*Culloch, HoraSo, 247. 
M*Geacban, John, 176-178, 18a 
M*Lellan, Hugh, 346. 

^ew Cumnock, 1, 4, 38, 44, 58, 178. 

Newspapers, 356. 

Nimmo, Rev. Samuel, 96-98. 

Oath of Abjuration, 104-106. 
OohUtree, 3, 8, 9, 20, 84, 103, 167. 
Ochiltree, Colville of, 35. 
Old MarialUy, 166. 

Parish Council, 355. 
Parish, rental of, 360. 
Parochial Registers, 344. 
Parochial relief, 213-218, 222, 360. 
Paterson, Simon, 163-166. 
Peden, Alexander, 45, 167-175. 
Penny Weddings, 310. 
Pentland Rising, 178-179. 
Pikemen, 333. 
Pirlecuing, 129. 
Poor, gifts to the, 216-218. 
Population, 344, 348. 
Post Office, 359. 
Precentor, 212, 223. 
Pre-Reformation Clergy, 67. 
Prince CharUe, 114, 121, 282. 
Prophecies, 24. 
Provosts, 352. 

Queensberry, Earl of, 39, 40. 

Queen Victoria, 245, 247, 248, 249, 353. 

Race, the, 308. 

Randolph, Earl of Moray, 29, 59. 

Rankine, Annie, 233-235. 

Rankine, John, 138-140. 

Regality Court, 98. 

Rent in kind, 326. 

Renwick, Rev. James, 165, 175. 

Repentance stool, 200. 

Reservoir, 349. 

Richard, Thomas, 161-163. 

Roads, 225, 318-322. 

Romans in Ayrshire, 17-19. 

Rule, PrinciMl, 99, 100. 

Rynd, Rev. John, 84, 85.